Harry Potter and the Powers of Deduction- Year 1
by Maximillion Puckett
Summary: Harry Potter is a relatively simple boy with a rather dark secret, one not even he knows about. Join him as he is revealed to be a wizard, battles insane Dark Lords and discovers that there are scarier things than a wand wielding megalomaniac. Rated M just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey guys, its been a while. I apologize for disappearing for such a long period of time, but well, life kinda turned around and kicked me in the teeth so I've had to recover from that.

But Im back now! Back with an all new story!

For those who are following "Oh God, Why Us?" I am sorry to say that, that story is under an indefinite hiatus due to the fact that I have run out of ideas for it. Its not entirely dead and Im waiting for either 1) new ideas to pop up or 2) someone to adopt the story. If I do end up getting new ideas before someone chooses to adopt it, I will keep the hiatus whilst I finish up all the remaining chapters so I can actually update weekly.

Keep in mind that I AM in college so my schedule will be a little hectic from now on and there will be times where I just wont be able to update.

Thank you for the understanding and here we go with the new story!

This story will be in two parts, labelled as "Harry Potter and the Powers of Deduction-Year 1" all the way to "Harry Potter and the Powers of Deduction-Year 4" in which the story will then change to "Harry Potter and the Price of Observation-Year 5" till "Harry Potter and the Price of Observation-Year 7" Then the story will most likely end.

**WARNING! THIS STORY CONTAINS AND MAY CONTAIN (EVENTUAL) GRAPHIC IMAGERY OF TORTURE, GORE AND OTHER THINGS. MENTIONS OF DISMEMBERMENT AND DEATHS OF 6 YEAR OLD CHILDREN WILL BE SAID THROUGHOUT THE STORY SO THAT THE PLOT MAY CONTINUE. IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE THIS TYPE OF STORYLINE PLEASE LEAVE NOW. AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DONT IGNORE THIS WARNING AND THEN GO ON TO TELL ME HOW MUCH OF AN AWFUL PERSON I AM, CAUSE IM GOING TO IGNORE YOU AND CONTINUE. ALSO: I WILL PUT A WARNING IN FRONT OF EVERY CHAPTER THAT CONTAINS THE ABOVE TRIGGERS(?) AND WHEN THE SECTION ENDS SO YOU MAY READ WITHOUT WORRY.**

**THIS PARTICULAR CHAPTER DOES NOT HOLD ENOUGH DESCRIPTION TO WARRANT A WARNING, JUST KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE MENTIONS IN THIS (AND THE FOLLOWING) CHAPTER(S). ONCE MORE, IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THIS TYPE OF STORY, PLEASE LEAVE NOW.**

Otherwise please enjoy your stay! :D

* * *

Deduction 1:

To say that 10 year old (going on eleven) Harry Potter was different would be a bit of an understatement.

Every kid was different in their own way, but little Harry was doubly different. You see, the poor child had lost his parents as a baby and was sent to live with his mother's sister, Petunia and her husband Vernon Dursley. Petunia was a horse like woman with a very long neck, which she used to look over hedges to spy on the neighbors. Vernon on the other hand, resembled a small sperm whale, having no neck at all (but a rather fabulous mustache I must say). They had a son named Dudley who was the epitome of the word "walrus".

The Dursley's had not been kind to little Harry, forcing him to live in the cupboard under the stairs from the moment he could walk. They also forced him to do all of the household chores as well: cooking, cleaning anything and everything that should have been Petunia's job was assigned to Harry.

Little Harry could also do very strange things.

He didn't MEAN to do strange things, it just happened. For example, his hair. His hair was a spider's nest (and I do mean that literally, the little critters just loved to nest in his hair. Harry didn't mind) of black locks sticking out in all directions, giving him a permanent "just woke up" look. And it ALWAYS stayed that way, always keeping itself just a couple inches short of "too long". Petunia HATED it, she was always complaining that it was too long and that their short trips to the barbers seemed like a waste of money due to the fact that Harry's hair never seemed to get any shorter.

Which led the Dursley matriarch to the decision of cutting it herself. The resulting haircut was atrocious. Harry's hair had been cut so short he was almost bald, except for the front which was left in bangs to cover Harry's "horrible scar". Dudley had laughed himself sick at Harry's predicament and the poor boy had spent a sleepless night worrying about the next day, he was already teased and harassed enough because of his baggy clothes and taped glasses (a result of a certain walrus punching him in the nose too many times).

He needn't have worried, his hair had grown back by morning.

This, of course, had let to a rather severe beating and a week in his cupboard with little to no food.

Course if you had asked Harry, he would have replied that it had been totally worth it to see the combined looks of horror and surprise on his aunt and uncle's faces. They had looked rather constipated.

Another instance, and the only one with a beating that had left him unable to walk for a week, (social services had a riot with that one. Too bad they hadn't found anything) was the time he had been running from Dudley's gang and ended up on the school roof.

After he'd been able to walk again he decided a couple bruises from Dudley was better than running.

Now, the last thing that made little Harry so different from everyone else, was something that was actually quite normal in the eyes of society.

He had an eidetic memory, the ability to read or see something once and remember it forever and always. He also had a very acute sense of observation, perhaps it was attributed to his memory, but nonetheless the ability to see details that everyone else skimmed over got him out of trouble more than once.

These three things had led to the creation of a very strange, but still oddly sweet little boy. Harry, despite being beaten and hated by so many, still found it in his heart to forgive almost everyone who was mean to him.

Almost.

Now, I may have lied just a bit. You see there was one last thing that made Harry Potter different from every other boy and girl…

And it wasn't very pleasant.

* * *

We shall start Harry Potter's story with a little known fact.

When Harry was much younger, around 5 or 6 years of age, he was kidnapped alongside a couple other kids. The man who kidnapped them was well known for taking small children, violently mutilating them and leaving the corpses out in the open for all to see.

Now the Dursley's had not reported Harry missing until the police announced that they were doing an investigation to find the five other missing children. The police had been suspicious, I mean who wouldn't be? A family reports their nephew missing after the boy had been gone for what seems to have been a couple days now? The neglect had later sparked an investigation into the Dursley household, but only after young Harry Potter had been found alive.

He seemed to have been the only one to survive.

We'll go from the beginning.

Harry had been weeding the garden that day, and was in the front lawn tending to the hedges when the man had appeared. He was a handsome man, with a great grin and kind eyes. He had asked Harry what he was doing, Harry had replied that he was trimming the hedges.

The man asked where his parents were, Harry replied that they had died a long time ago. The man expressed his sorrow, Harry brushed it off.

He then asked Harry if he would accompany him to locate his dog, Candy, who had apparently snapped her leash and had run off. Harry had agreed and followed the man to his car, where he was immediately subdued with a cloth drenched in chloroform.

When Harry woke up next, he was in a room with five other children, two more boys and three girls. The girls introduced themselves as Aether, Della and Flora, the boys had shakily introduced themselves as Geoff and Edgar. Harry had then told them his name and asked where they were.

The kids were in no real condition to answer, they had gone through severe emotional and physical trauma whilst The Man had been searching for his sixth victim. However, Aether seemed to be the calmest of the bunch and had shakily explained the situation. She told Harry that he didn't need to worry because she was sure The Man would stop the torture now that they had Harry.

She had been right, but something worse began to happen.

One by one, over the course of the week, The Man had killed the children. Della had gone first, and the other kids had just about lost their minds listening to the poor girl scream in agony.

Geoff was next, the screams were just as terrifying as the first.

Then went Flora, this time the remaining kids weren't as scared as she had seemed to go relatively easy.

Edgar was the fourth and the one who seemed to have suffered the least.

Aether was the last to die. And before she had been dragged to her doom in the adjacent room, she promised Harry that she would get him out of there if it was the last thing she would do.

And it was.

Aether suffered the most, Harry wasn't able to sleep a wink that night, his eidetic memory forcing him to relive the violent death cries of the other children every time he closed his eyes.

And then just like that it was over.

One minute he was awake and painfully aware of his surroundings, and the next he was gone and there was someone else in his body. Someone else had picked up a stray plank of wood when "Harry" had been dragged into the Death Room. Someone else had smacked The Man over the head repeatedly with it and thrown him to the wall without ever once lifting a hand. Someone else had used his feet to pull himself up and out of the basement, running for their life to the nearest house.

Someone else used his voice to tell the police what had happened and where to locate The Man.

Someone else forced his brain to lock away his memories.

That someone's name was Della.

And she still resided deep within Harry.

Waiting.

* * *

"Harry! Angel, a letter came for you!" A feminine voice rang through the house.

"Coming mum!" Came the reply.

10 year old, almost 11, Harry Potter ran down the stairs, a look of glee upon his young face.

Now quick recap, Harry remembers practically nothing from that fateful week all those years ago, except the aftermath, which had him removed from the Dursley home under precedes of neglect and wound him up in the Lopez home.

Mr. and Mrs. Ray and Nila Lopez were a young couple who had been married for 3 years. Ray was a rather lanky Hispanic male, with gold brown eyes and a very winning smile. Nila on the other hand, was a Caucasian female with blonde hair and surprisingly striking green eyes.

It was later discovered that Nila was infertile and unable to produce children, this led to many desperate attempts to adopt a child but to no avail.

Then Harry came along and never left.

The Lopez's doted on their adopted son, spoiling him rotten but still managing to keep him humble and sweet, and, over the years, most traces of Harry's abuse at the Dursley house had been wiped away. Between the two of them, not many people actually believed Harry was adopted.

Which brings us back to the present.

And the mysterious letter that Harry had received in the mail.

Which said male was currently ripping open, with an enthusiasm so great it could have powered a nuclear generator.

Harry looked upon the letter with confusion, the letter itself seemed important enough, and even looked real, but the contents of it made him confused and more than a little angry.

"What does it say angel?" Nila questioned.

"Umm… Dear Mr. Potter. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress." Read Harry, "and then on the second page it saysssss… First-year students will require: 1. Three sets of plain work robes (black), 2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear, 3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar), 4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings). Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags. All students should have a copy of each of the following: The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk, A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore, Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble. Students will also require: 1 wand, 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2), 1 set glass or crystal phials, 1 telescope, 1 set brass scales. Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad. Then it says that parents are reminded that first years aren't allowed a broom… Is this some kind of joke mum?" He finished, turning slightly disappointed eyes at his mother.

"Well Im not sure angel, perhaps we should just wait and see. It does say that someone will get you on July 31st, or at least I believe it says that… we don't have an owl after all."

"Well if someone does show up, that'll be the best birthday gift ever!"

"Indeed it will angel! Now come on, let's go make some cookies for your father when he gets home."

"Okay!" Chirped Harry, running off to the kitchen to pull the needed supplies.

Nila chuckled fondly and then turned concerned eyes to the letter, what a horrible prank it was, filling her poor child's head with such fantastical ideas… she sighed, setting the letter down on the coffee table and joining her child in the kitchen.

Tomorrow they were going to celebrate Harry's early birthday at the zoo, seeing as it landed on a Tuesday this year and Ray wouldn't be able to get the day off.

The gloom outside had turned into a full out thunderstorm and lightning struck just as Nila walked into the kitchen, illuminating her child so sinisterly that she screamed in fright.

Concerned, Harry had raced for his mother.

"Mum? Are you okay?" He asked.

Nila smiled, taking a shaky hand and running it through unruly black locks.

"Im fine angel, just fine…"


	2. Chapter 2

An: Second chapter already! I haven't gotten much feedback for this story but I do have the entire thing planned out so it's going to happen whether y'all like it or not.

However feedback would be greatly appreciated! Id love to hear what you guys would want to happen or if there was a particular direction you'd like it to go!

Remember, a writer is only as good as her fans.

But without further ado here is the second chapter!

"_Parsletongue_"

"Normal Speak"

* * *

Deduction 2:

The remainder of the day came and went and before Harry knew it, it was time to go to the zoo.

Now usually Harry would have picked somewhere else to go for his birthday, nothing TOO elaborate but somewhere cool enough to make it fun. But this year the zoo had a new snake exhibit that he was just dying to see.

Hence why the Lopez's had a very hyper child in the back seat talking a mile a minute about all the facts that he knew about coral snakes that he read about the night before.

They had left around 10:30 and arrived at the zoo at around 11:20, the new snake exhibit didn't open until 12:30, so Harry dragged his parents around the entire zoo, pointing out all the animals he knew and asking Ray or Nila about the ones he didn't.

It had continued on like that for about thirty minutes, Harry asking a question, Ray answering it, usually with a bizarre and unrealistic answer.

Then the incident occurred.

About 10 minutes before the exhibit opened, Harry had asked his parents if he could get some ice cream, they had (obviously) agreed, lining up with their adoptive son at a little ice cream stand behind a very large family.

And by large we mean fat.

But Harry was a polite little boy, and even though he noticed that the family looked eerily familiar, he had decided not to dwell on it, choosing instead to turn to his mother and talk more about the coral snake, chattering about its venom, how it got confused with the king snake and how some of them didn't come in the traditional black, red and yellow coloring. Then he heard it.

"Hey Dudley, isn't that Potter?"

"Hey you're RIGHT Piers! It IS Potter! Let's 'say' hi!"

The next thing Harry knew he was being spun around by his shoulders, there was a sharp pain in his nose and he was on the ground.

The world spun around him and he felt disoriented and sick. He was almost certain his glasses were broken if the stinging in his cheeks were anything to go by. He also vaguely heard his mother and father screaming at someone.

"Oh dear god!" Yelled Nila, immediately going to Harry's side to assess the damage done to him.

"What the hell is wrong with your child?!" Ray snapped, whirling around to confront the main problem, the kid's parents.

Ray had taken one look at the parents and their kids and knew exactly what the problem was, a low growl escaped the Hispanic as he went from slumping over to his full height of 6'3, glaring down at the Dursleys.

"Control your child Dursley. We don't need little punks like him terrorizing this zoo. This is a FAMILY FRIENDLY place." He growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh I should have known it was YOUR son that would have punched my sweet little Harry." Came the dangerously calm voice of Nila Lopez, who had removed the shards of glass from Harry's cheek and had picked up the weakly protesting 10 year old into her arms.

Vernon Dursley, who had been steadily growing angrier with the situation, was currently as purple as an eggplant and looked more like a bruised tomato than a human being.

His wife was no better, looking as if she had drunk an entire pitcher of lemon juice.

Dudley and Piers (Dudley's mousy best friend) looked like the cat that had gotten the cream.

"How DARE you make such a horrible assumption about my precious little Duddy," Petunia sneered, nose in the air and looking down at the odd family, which only made her look like a deformed giraffe. "The little… FREAK must have provoked him somehow."

That was obviously the wrong thing to say because one second Nila was in front of the creepy woman and the next she was across the small plaza and explaining the situation to a security guard.

Who immediately walked over to the confronting families and demanded that if the Dursley's didn't apologize and keep at least 10 feet away from the Lopezs at all times, they would be escorted out of the zoo.

Naturally this caused a totally fake tantrum from Dudley, who cried and screamed about how Harry ruined everything, even when he wasn't living with them.

Nonetheless, Vernon, red faced and steaming like a locomotive, forced Dudley to apologize and then went on their way, not wanting to look any worse than they already did.

As the Lopez's watched the family waddle/trot away, Nila set Harry down and gave him a mischievous smile.

"Looked even fatter now didn't they?" She asked, making her son giggle maniacally.

"Yeah they did." Croaked Harry, giving his mom a bruised smile, "can we go see the snakes now?"

Nila frowned and shared a look with Ray.

"… All right angel, but after the exhibit we're going straight home, how much can you see?" Ray asked, crouching down besides the short 10 year old.

"I can see enough that I won't have to lean in the tank dad!"

"Well if you say so…" Ray began, grinning and whipping the boy up and onto his shoulders. "Let's go then!"

Harry squealed in delight and held onto his father for dear life, allowing the man to race off to the Reptile House with Nila hot on their heels.

* * *

Once inside, Ray set Harry down so the boy could have the best experience with his favorite reptiles. And boy did he.

The ravenette ran around the room, looking at all the snakes behind glass, drinking in and memorizing all the information given to him in a single instance, of course he knew all the information on the snakes in the Reptile House already, but it was always nice to have a refresher… Not that he needed it of course.

They were just in time for the new session with the coral snakes by the time Harry had made a run through of the House, and he was vibrating and bouncing on his heels by the time they were in front of the presenter.

Said woman smiled at them and raised the long coral snake for all to see. Harry noticed that the snake seemed to preen at the attention it was given, especially if it was screams of fright. The screams annoyed Harry and gave him a headache, why on earth would you come to an exhibit about coral snakes if you were afraid of the bloody things?!

"We should start out by telling you all that these coral snakes are specially bred to be without venom…" The lady began.

And just like that Harry didn't care anymore. His interest flew straight out the window with the announcement. They weren't coral snakes if they didn't have their venom! They were just king snakes with the colors in the correct order.

He'd be lying if he said he didn't tune in when he heard new information however.

* * *

When the exhibit was over, his parents and he were making one last trip around the Reptile House before they went home.

"What did you think of the presentation angel?" Nila questioned.

"I liked it! I mean, I was really disappointed when they said that the coral snakes weren't venomous, but other than that it was really good! Really informative!" Said Harry, his hands moving to gesture along with his words.

"Were you able to commit it all to memory?" Ray teased, already knowing the answer.

"'Course dad! Who do you think I am?" He said, puffing his chest up in mock self-importance.

The family's little teasing fest was drawn to a close when he heard an all too familiar voice hissing at the snakes.

"Come on move!" Harry heard, wincing when he heard loud pounding following the words.

As they drew closer, Harry glared.

Dudley was harassing one of his favorite snakes, a large boa constrictor whose breed was from Brazil. Eventually the great walrus finally got bored of the sleeping snake and moved away from it.

Harry then took its place, sighing in annoyance as he looked upon the poor creature.

"I feel for you," he began, not realizing that his parents were looking at him in concern, "I really do, that guy can be a handful right? I should know, I lived with him for the better part of 6 years."

Harry was then very startled when the snake lifted its head up.

"_I get that all the time. Humansss, they jussst don't know when to quit._" Said the snake.

"You… You're talking!" He exclaimed, then dropped his voice so that no one could tell.

"_Well of course I am, do you think our hissing isss jussst nonsssensse?_"

"Well… if you all can talk, why am I just hearing you?"

"_I wouldn't know hatchling, I wasss bred in captivity remember?_"

"Ah right… do you ever wonder what Brazil is like?"

"_All the time hatchling… Sssay, you're a ssspeaker, won't you help me get out of here?_"

"Yeah! But, how?"

"_Vanish the glassss._"

"That's impossible."

"_Have you ever tried?_"

"Well, no…"

"_Then how do you know it isss?_"

"Mm, you make a good point…. All right I'll try."

The snake bowed his head in thanks and looked at Harry with curiosity. Harry on the other hand glared at the glass and tried to concentrate.

At least that is until he was shoved unceremoniously onto the floor.

Dazed, he looked up at the mass of fat that suddenly surrounded his vision as Dudley began harassing the snake with renewed vigor, trying to get him to do stuff. This made Harry angry and he glowered at Dudley, wishing SOMETHING would happen to him.

Next thing he knew the fat walrus fell head first into the habitat and Harry was left staring in undisguised amusement and disbelief.

"_Thanksss._" Came a familiar hiss as the constrictor slunk out of its cage and began moving around, hissing and striking at anyone who came to close when people began to panic.

"Any time!" Harry called out after it, grinning from ear to ear.

A grin that only got more creepy and malicious when Dudley tried to climb out of the habitat only to find the glass firmly in place once more.

The raven just couldn't hide his mirth anymore and began to laugh loud and hard at Dudley's very genuine cries of distress. He was very glad that he was on the floor still, because he would have ended up there anyway with how hard he was laughing.

"BOY!" Came the roar and Harry stopped laughing immediately.

Visions of pain and horror began swimming in his mind as he registered that roar, screams filled his ears but no one was screaming. The screams terrified him and his head began to throb, he wasn't supposed to be remembering this.

Vernon came at Harry with his fist raised, forgetting that they were in public and that Harry wasn't his ward anymore. He was just about to bring the fist down on the boys head when he stopped just a hair away.

Harry had locked eyes with Vernon.

But they weren't the striking emerald green anymore.

In the place of color sat white pupils, surrounded by black.

The boy looked like a demon, and when he grinned, Vernon stumbled back in fright and babbled nonsense, pointing and looking around, hoping that someone else saw what he saw.

But when he looked back, the devilish vision was gone, and in its place was a frightened and cowering, perfectly normal Harry Potter, clinging to his mother as if his life depended on it.

"Dursley." Came the dangerously low voice, and Vernon turned eyes to look upon a furious Ray. "He is not your ward anymore. That is MY son, and you will NEVER hurt him again. If I ever see you anywhere near him with that disgusting pig hoof raised, intending to hurt him, I will have your ass thrown in jail so fast that your neck will snap from spinning so much."

"Ray, don't swear in front of Harry." Nila said, but didn't say a word against the course of action her husband just took.

"Let's go Vainilla*, before I do something I regret."

Harry and Nila agreed and began to leave when Vernon decided to dig himself a deeper grave.

"That boy is a freak! A demon! He showed me a vision of hell and trapped my Dudley in that tank!" The whale screeched.

Ray began to turn, but was stopped by Harry's hand on his shoulder.

"It's not worth it dad." He said, exhaustion written all over his face.

Ray gave a nod and they continued on their way.

* * *

On their way home, Ray swore a lot in Spanish.

Of course Harry didn't mind, or care for that matter, he was thinking more of what happened in the Reptile House.

He had almost remembered something, something that had to do with the memory gap he had. The gap started some odd weeks before he was adopted by Ray and Nila, and ended the day the Dursley investigation happened.

And try as he might he just… COULDN'T remember what happened.

He could remember everything else, including his real parents' death, which is why he was hoping that letter was real, because it would explain so, so much.

His eidetic memory allowed him to remember everything, hell even the name and appearance of that homeless man they passed about a week ago.

But he just couldn't remember that week.

Something told him he didn't WANT to remember that week.

Harry was still lost in thought when Ray pulled into the parking lot of a pet store.

"Uh… This isn't home." He said, blinking owlishly.

"No it's not kiddo… Frankly, your mom and I wanted to wait a little longer before we did this, but you've been through so much _mierda _today that I just wanted you to have SOMETHING good on your early birthday." Ray said, wincing as Nila smacked him on the arm.

"Don't swear honey… Now come on angel, I think it's about time we bought you that snake that you wanted."

And just like that, every worry Harry had about that week was gone.

* * *

It had taken a while and a lot of trial and error for Harry to FINALLY pick a pet snake.

The store clerk had wanted to start the boy off with a simple garden snake or ball python, something generally easy for a beginner to take care of, but Harry had assured him that he could, and would, take care of any snake that he was given.

And so began the long and arduous journey for the perfect pet.

Eventually Harry had found him.

The clerk had introduced the raven to the king snakes, and Harry felt an immediate attraction for one

A pitch black Mexican King snake.

The clerk had looked rather nervous, still adamantly saying that king snakes weren't good for a beginner and it wasn't until Harry had listed off everything he would need and knew about taking care of a king snake that the clerk finally allowed it.

Ray and Nila both agreed he was a very beautiful snake, and then Ray and Harry began discussing how cool it would be to feed him.

Nila stayed out of that conversation with a small groan of disgust.

Once they paid for the snake and enough supplies to last them a while, along with some rats and a bit of advice to set the snake out in the backyard when he got used to them, the Lopezs and Harry left the store.

"What are you going to name him kiddo?"

"Hmm… I don't know… Do you have a name?" He asked the snake, all in jest.

At least until he answered Harry.

"_I wasn't given a name before I wasss taken from my mother._" He hissed.

Harry had almost jumped out of the car in fright. He hadn't been expecting that. Which was odd, considering he had been talking to a boa just a couple hours prior.

"Oh that's awful… Hmmm, how about… Cain?"

"Cain? That's an odd name." Said Nila.

"Oddly fitting you mean." Chirped Ray.

"_I like that name… I will be Cain from now on._"

"Cain it is!" Harry said, grinning at the snake, "I'm Harry, Cain! We're gonna be GREAT friends!"

* * *

When the family finally got home, everyone was thoroughly exhausted and it was dark out.

They had set up Cain's tank in Harry's room and he and Ray left the snake a rat to eat after Cain informed Harry he was hungry. The two males watched in morbid fascination as he devoured the rat whole.

"You two are gross." Nila said from the doorway, pointedly not looking at Cain.

"We're men Vainilla! Doing gross things is in our nature!" Ray teased, picking up Harry and launching him onto the bed. "Bed time kiddo."

"Can't I stay up a little longer?" Harry asked, yawning midway through the sentence. "'M not sleepy…"

"Sure you aren't angel… Listen, Harry, we're really sorry that everything took a sour note today, we'll make it up to you on your real birthday okay?" Ray said, concern written all over his face.

"Yes we will. I'll also take you to go get new glasses tomorrow, god only knows how much you needed new ones anyway." Nila stated, smiling kindly at her son.

"It's okay mum, dad. I had a lot of fun today, even if seeing my aunt, uncle and cousin spoiled it a little." Harry said, smiling at his parents.

The couple grinned down at their son and took turns kissing his forehead before tucking him in.

"Sleep well angel." They chorused, smiling at the slurred response.

The door shut behind them, but Harry was already fast asleep.

* * *

AN: I'm actually Hispanic so I know what I'm saying, but here's the translation

Vainilla: Spanish for 'vanilla' and Nila's nickname. Pronounced Vai-knee-YA

Mierda: Spanish for shit. Pronounced Mi-ye-r-da


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Wow! Thanks for all the positive feedback! And by positive feedback I mean follows and favorites.

I have yet to get a single comment.

But that's cool yo! Just the fact that you liked this story enough to favorite it is enough in my book!

So without further ado, here's the next chapter! Diagon Alley here we come!

"Normal Speak"

"_Parsletongue_"

"_**Della**_"

'Thoughts'

* * *

Deduction 3:

Snape POV:

Severus Snape was cross.

Why was Severus Snape cross? Well there were many reasons as to why, he was forced to teach a bunch of snot-nosed brats who couldn't appreciate the fine art of potion-making. There was Dumbledore and the fact that he had been getting increasingly more… odd, as the days counted down to the new school year.

And then there was the main reason.

He was being forced to go pick up the bane of his existence.

Harry Potter, son of James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans, his school yard crush.

Dumbledore had told him that Harry was a spoiled little brat that had never worked in his life, and he was sending Severus to get him.

Though Severus had never met the boy, he trusted Dumbledore, the man had never led him astray after all. So if he said that Harry Potter was spoiled and disrespectful, he would believe him.

Sending Severus to get him well…

It was just a disaster waiting to happen.

* * *

Three harsh knocks and there was a shrill voice screaming from inside.

"Coming!" Came the voice of Petunia Dursley.

The horse like woman answered the door, jerking backwards in surprise at the sight of him.

"YOU!" She screeched, forcing Severus to suppress a grin.

"Yes Petunia, me. I've come for Potter." He said, sneering down at the woman.

She scoffed and crossed her arms, leaning slightly against the door way to block his view into the house.

"Well you're too late. He doesn't live with us anymore, hasn't for the past 6 years!"

"Excuse me? Well where is he?" He asked, trying not to show his surprise at the statement.

"He lives with Nila and Ray Lopez, we weren't told anything else."

"Why was he removed from your household?"

"I'm not telling you that. Now go away!" She screeched, slamming the door in Severus's face.

Severus sighed, turning and moving down the street, sneering and glaring at anyone who looked at him. He went to the end of the road and then took a right, going to an abandoned lot and pulling his wand out.

"Point me to Nila Lopez." He said, watching as his wand spun and pointed west. "Ah. London."

He spun on his heel and Apparated.

* * *

Normal POV:

The Lopez's house was a quaint place. With 5 rooms and two bathrooms, the place was not too big and not too small, perfect for a family of three.

The outside was done in cream and white and there were beds of flowers surrounding it.

It was oddly comforting. Even for a guy like Severus Snape.

Who was currently on the doorstep.

He raised his hand, knocked three times and waited.

"Coming!" A feminine voice called out.

The door opened and Severus felt like he had been smacked across the face and thrown into the past. There in the doorway was someone who looked like Lily Potter had come back from the dead.

But, after his initial shock wore off, he noticed that Nila Lopez actually looked nothing like Lily Potter.

For one her hair was blonde and not red, her eyes weren't the same shade of green, her nose, face structure, nothing looked the same. At first glance Nila looked like Lily, but with a closer look they could be distant cousins.

"Who might you be?" She asked.

Severus pulled himself out of his musings and cleared his throat.

"Severus Snape. I'm here to pick up Harry Potter." He said, internally wincing at how much loathing came out at the child's name.

Nila stared at him.

He stared back.

There was a beat.

"Oh thank goodness!" She said, sagging slightly in relief and rushing him inside. "I thought you weren't coming! Harry would have been so disappointed, or angry… Not sure to be honest."

Severus was confused to say the least, and it was his confusion that had allowed the cheery woman to usher him inside and plop him on the couch whilst she called her son down.

"Angel! There's a visitor for you!"

She then joined him on the couch and waited.

There was another beat.

Then frantic footfalls flew overhead and down the stairs and the boy had barely been able to grab the banister as he stepped wrong and almost fell. He raced in front of Severus and grinned.

Severus was reminded of Lily. This hurt more than he let on.

"You're a wizard right?!" Harry exclaimed, excitement and surprise written on his face.

He had been tending to Cain upstairs when his mom had called him. Harry would have been down sooner but… well Cain wanted to come along. So Harry spent a little time getting the snake comfortable around his neck before racing downstairs.

He had taken one look at the black clad man and knew that there was something magical about him.

"_He smellsss odd._" Said Cain.

"_Does he?_"

"_He doesss, like magic._"

"Are you… are you speaking to the snake?" Asked the man, seeming surprised.

"Uh yeah… this is Cain! He says you smell odd." Said Harry.

The man simply stared and said nothing.

"_He doesssn't ssseem to be disssturbed._"

Harry shushed Cain quietly, gently rubbing his finger on the smooth black scaled head.

"So, um, are you? A wizard I mean?"

"I am. My name is Severus Snape and I'm a teacher at Hogwarts." Said the man, looking at Harry through narrowed eyes.

"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, bouncing on his heels. "What do you teach? Why're you here?"

"I teach potions," Severus said, with no small amount of pride, "and I was sent to retrieve you and accompany you to Diagon Alley to buy your supplies, but I was held up. Tell me, why aren't you a resident at the Dursley household anymore?"

"Ah, Mr. Snape I think that's a personal que-" Nila began, only to be cut off by her son.

"It's okay mum… I lived there for a while, 6 years, they beat me, starved me and neglected me. I could give you a detailed account of what happened if you want, though I don't think you want to know that much." Harry said with a shrug.

If the professor was surprised by this information he didn't show it, instead he asked:

"You remember all of it?"

"Yeah. I have an eidetic memory."

"Eidetic… this means you remember-"

"The night my parents died? Yeah, yeah I do. I remember everything, well everything except for this one week. The gap starts on June 5th, 1985. Aunt Petunia had sent me out to do some weeding in her garden and to tend to the hedges, I had been trimming the hedges when this man appeared… he was very handsome and he asked me what I was doing, where my parents were. He then asked if I could find… his… dog… ow!" Harry exclaimed, grabbing his head.

"Pott- Harry, are you all right?" Severus asked, whilst Nila began to chant 'no' under her breath, wringing her hands on her lap.

"Yes I'm fine, just a… headache… ohhh, I feel a little strange." He slurred, collapsing backwards into the loveseat behind him and falling unconscious.

Severus took a look at Nila, who was shaking and muttering what seemed to be the Lord's Prayer under her breath.

When he turned back to Harry he understood why.

The thing looking back at him was most definitely not Harry Potter.

Harry Potter did not have a face that seemed to be permanently set into a frown. Harry Potter did not have black demonic eyes, with a single ring of white in them.

Harry Potter most definitely did not grin like that.

Severus jumped to his feet, whipping out his wand and pointing it at the child.

"Who are you? WHAT are you?"

"_**I'm a grudge! And put that down, honestly I'm not going to attack you. I just want to… chat a bit, that's all.**_" It said.

Through the distortion, Severus could tell that it sounded suspiciously feminine.

"Leave that boy's body."

"_**I won't! Now sit down before I MAKE you.**_" It snarled.

"Stupi-"

Severus never got to finish his spell before an unforgiving force wrenched his wand from his hand and forced him into the couch.

Nila continued to shake and pointedly not look at the demon.

"_**I warned you. Honest I did! I didn't even want to do that! You seem like a reasonable guy! I just want to talk… well more like warn you.**_"

He looked warily at the child and straightened up, motioning for it to talk.

"_**Thank you. My name is Della. I'm possessing Harry in case you couldn't already tell.**_" The thing, Della, began, "_**Anyway, back to the story. I don't remember the day as well as Harry would, but well that's for the best.**_

_**"The Man Harry talked about was a serial killer, who abducted children and brutally killed them… you see where I'm going with this right? I'm gonna spare you the gritty details and just say this. There were six of us, me, Flora, Aether, Geoff, Edgar and Harry. One by one we were violently mutilated. I was the first and the only one to turn into a grudge. When it was Aether's turn, she seemed to have had a six sense and ordered me to protect Harry.**_

_**"I had asked her why should I, and she told me that she sensed that Harry had a lot of power, she continued to ask me to protect him… even after she died. So I agreed. When I possessed him I found he was a wizard and found that his eidetic memory would never let him forget what happened, because of that I decided to beat The Man into unconsciousness and then go to the police. Once it was all said and done I locked up his memories of that week and went into a hibernation mode. I will resurface whenever he tries to remember. I will also resurface whenever he's in any kind of danger that he can't handle himself or will force him to remember that week.**_" She finished.

"You are a child ghost, grudge correct?"

"_**Weird question, yeah.**_"

"How are you so eloquent?"

"_**Even weirder question. While I can't actually grow up with Harry, I can learn from him.**_"

"Fair enough, why isn't Harry allowed to remember that week? He now has a loving family, one that will protect him and help him through it."

"_**Please tell me you're joking.**_"

Severus gave Della a deadpan look.

"_**Wow for a professor of magic you sure are dumb.**_"

Severus spluttered but Della kept going.

"_**If he remembers, the trauma will literally drive him insane. He was tortured and then forced to hear other people his age die. His psyche just wouldn't be able to handle it, so I'm keeping that locked up until he's ready to see it. And you better not force him to remember if you know what's good for you.**_"

"No offense, but you don't seem very powerful, grudge or not."

Della stared at him, she continued to stare at him for a long period of time.

Then she opened her mouth and screamed.

The house shook with the force of her hatred and Nila sobbed openly, looking with horrified eyes at her child.

Della closed her mouth and tilted her head at Snape,

"_**If you want another demonstration I can make all the furniture in this room levitate… though I think that's the extent of my power.**_"

Severus was visibly shaken and when he turned to look at the blonde woman, the look she was giving him could have killed him three times over.

"Do not." Nila spat, turning to Della. "Della, it's been nice to see you, but I want my angel back."

"_**Don't worry Mrs. Lopez, I'm gonna leave in a minute.**_" She turned to Severus, and glowered, the effect striking home with her unnatural eyes. "_**Don't make him remember, or I will make you regret it with every fiber of your being.**_"

And just like that Della was gone.

No more unnatural black and white eyes, no screams that could cause earthquakes, no deadpan stare.

Just a visibly distraught boy and his emerald green eyes,

Severus had never been so happy to see that color.

"Professor Snape. A word." Nila said, motioning for him to come into the kitchen.

"Mum? Did something happen?" Harry asked, shakily standing up.

"No angel, you just had another blackout, please go upstairs and put Cain back, the adults have to talk."

* * *

"Please don't make him remember." She begged, desperation in her features.

"Why not?"

"Do you honestly need a reason!?"

Severus nodded.

"Because Della would come back, and she'd stay longer while she tried to fix the damage done to his mind, and GOD. I don't want her here, I hate her, and I've tried so hard to get rid of her, but everything I do fails and she loves to tell me that and UGH."

Nila set her face in her hands and rubbed at her temples.

"She is a poison, not to him, but everyone around him. So please, don't make him remember, don't make me lose my little boy."

He could see how desperate she was, and how much she loved Harry. He'd also witnessed Della first hand and decided that the world didn't need that much hate unleased into it just yet.

"I won't, I swear."

"Thank you."

The smile Nila gave him was enough to cement his decision.

But something told him he shouldn't tell the headmaster about this.

* * *

"Are you ready Harry?" Nila asked, fretting over her son.

After an hour of preparation (and a glass of brandy for the adults), Harry Potter was finally ready for his departure.

"Are you sure you want to go? I'm sure Professor Snape wouldn't mind waiting a day or two." Nila said.

That was an exaggeration, after the incident with the grudge, Severus was prepared to go straight home and drink himself to sleep.

"I'm sure mum! It was just a blackout! I'm fine!" Harry chirped.

"Well, all right. Stay safe." She said, getting up and turning to Severus. "Please protect him."

"I will." Severus promised.

Nila gave him a small smile and ushered the two of them out the door.

"Be back soon angel! We'll be going out tonight!"

"I will mum!" Harry called, waving at Nila until the door shut.

The two males walked in amiable silence along the London streets, well mostly silence, Severus was listening to Harry hiss to his snake.

It had taken a lot of begging, bargaining and one giant temper tantrum (that Harry had apologized for the minute they left the house) to allow Nila to let Harry take Cain on the trip.

They were a couple blocks from their location (thank goodness for the Lopez house being so conveniently located) when Severus broke the silence.

"Mr. Potter-" Severus began.

"Aw come on Professor Snape! Please call me Harry!" Said child chirped.

"… Harry, do you… have blackouts often?"

"Err, no not really. They'll happen every once in a while and I really hate them."

"Why?"

"Other than the obvious? I pride myself on my memory, and when I blackout, I can't remember anything that happened about ehh, 10 or so minutes prior to the blackout. It sucks."

Severus chuckled, making Harry puff out his cheeks and blush.

"Its not funny!"

"I know, I know. Im sure that one day you'll be able to remember everything." Snape said.

Harry was content with that answer and turned back to talk to his snake.

A couple more minutes of walking found the two wizards in front of an old and rickety bar in London.

Harry scrunched his nose.

"Uhhh, Professor Snape? My mum said I shouldn't go in to places like these." He said.

"And she would be right. But this time Im with you, and so its okay." He said, before crouching down to the child's level with a half smirk (as close to a smile as he would get), "but seriously? Never come here by yourself. There are some weird types in there."

Harry giggled.

"Sounds good to me!" He chirped, "lets go!"

Severus braved himself for the inevitable, someone was bound to recognize Harry, and then he'd have to tell the boy his story.

Wonderful.

The two walked inside, Harry blinking at the oddly comforting aroma of cheap alcohol and the lingering smell of smoke.

Severus led the boy through the bar, hoping to get through without anybody recognizing him.

No such luck.

"Severus! You don't usually come here." The bartender, Tom, said. "Can I get you anything?"

"No thank you Tom, I am already behind schedule and I cant afford to be any later." He said, taking Harry's shoulders and trying to steer the boy out of the bar before Tom saw him.

Once again, no such luck.

"My word! You're Harry Potter!" Tom exclaimed.

'God could he be any louder?' Snape thought with a groan.

And suddenly every patron in the bar was swarming the alarmed eleven year old, shaking his hand and moving his hair, trying to get a good look at the scar.

This of course caused Harry to go into a panic (claustrophobia will do that to you) and he tried to shove his way out of the crowd, his breathing becoming labored and his vision swimming.

"Help! Professor Snape help!" He croaked, gasping for breath.

Severus, realizing what was happening to the poor boy, quickly pulled him out of the crowd and planted him behind him. Where Harry proceeded to slump to the floor, head between his knees, trying desperately to regain control of his breathing.

"You lot should be ashamed of yourselves." Severus sneered, voice like poison. "Couldn't you see that your precious Savior was claustrophobic?"

Most of the patrons looked ashamed by that statement, though a few continued to try to get around Severus, with no success.

"All right you cretins! Go on, get away." Tom shouted, coming out from behind the bar and pushing patrons away from the distraught boy. "Sorry about that Severus. I shouldn't have yelled so loud."

"No, you shouldn't have." Said man snapped, turning and crouching to look at Harry, "are you all right?"

Harry had gotten his breathing under control and was taking deep breaths to calm himself.

"Im fine. Im fine." He said, shakily getting up. "I honestly thought I had gotten over my claustrophobia, but apparently not."

"Its not something easy to get over. How do you have it anyway?" He asked, leading the boy out of the bar.

"Well you see, when I lived with the Dursleys, my room was the broom cupboard under the stairs, and they would stuff me in there whenever I did something wrong. I guess I must have just developed a fear of small places and crowds over the years." Said Harry, giving another shrug.

"How can you act so nonchalant about that? What they did to you was horrible."

"It was, but! I don't I have to go back there ever again so Im not worried. Its all in the past now… even if the memories are still fresh in my brain. Besides, if I held a grudge against them forever, then I wouldn't be as happy as I am now!"

Severus shook his head. He couldn't understand how a boy who had gone through so much, could end up so sweet and forgiving. In his case, the abuse that happened to him left him jaded and cruel.

He was glad Harry wasn't going to end up like him.

* * *

"Professor Snape?"

"Severus or Sev is fine."

"Ok. Sev… this is a wall."

"Yes."

"This is a _wall_."

"We've established that."

"What are we doing at a wall?"

Severus shot Harry an exasperated look that said boy grinned cheekily at.

"You'll see."

Taking a step forward, Severus raised his wand and tapped the bricks in a certain order, then he took a step back and observed Harry's face.

He wasn't disappointed.

Harry's eyes widened and his mouth fell open in shock as the bricks rearranged themselves to form an archway into a completely different world.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley." Severus said, striding through the arch. "Come along… and close your mouth, you don't want to be catching flies do you?"

Harry snapped his mouth shut, puffed out his cheeks and blushed, quickly following Severus inside.

"Coulda warned me." He grumbled.

Severus was once more forced to suppress a grin.

* * *

"So what is this place?" Harry asked as they stopped in front of their first destination.

"This is Gringotts, the wizard bank. Its run by goblins." Severus explained.

"Woah! What really?"

Severus nodded and Harry practically pulled him inside, he was going to have to get used to being dragged around.

The inside was as grand (if not more grand) than the outside. Marble columns spread across the large marble hall and Harry was having a difficult time seeing, the place was so bright! However he had no trouble seeing-

"Hagrid!" The boy exclaimed, making the half giant turn in surprise and stumble a bit when a green eyed blur crashed into him.

Severus huffed and followed the boy.

"'Arry?!" Hagrid exclaimed in confusion, looking at the tiny boy. "You… you remember me?"

"Of course I do! Sirius gave me to you after what happened with Voldemort!" He said, making the two adults wince. "What? Am I not supposed to say his name?"

"Its taboo Harry." Severus explained.

Harry made a noise of acknowledgement and then turned back to Hagrid.

"You know, speaking of Padfoot, where is he? You'd think I'd have been given to him after my parents died."

The two adults winced again.

"What? What happened?" He asked, glaring when he didn't get an answer. "What happened to Sirius?!"

"'Arry… Yer godfathers in Azkaban." Said Hagrid.

"Wh- whats Azkaban?"

This time Severus piped up.

"It's a wizard prison on a far off island, its guarded by Dementors, which quite literally suck the happiness out of you." He said.

"Why is he in there?!"

"He betrayed your parents Harry, don't you remember?"

"He didn't betray my parents! Peter did!"

The two adults were taken back.

"An… An how do ye know this?" Hagrid asked.

"Because! I was there! My parents said that they switched the Secret Keeper of the house, whatever that is, to Peter because they knew everyone would think it was Sirius! But no one expected Peter to be a Death Eater!" Harry said, taking a big gulp of air. "Padfoot is innocent! We need to get him out!"

"I… I don't know if we can 'Arry." Hagrid.

"Was he even given a fair trial!?"

"That would be a no, he wasn't given a trial period." That was Severus.

"Well then! We'll go to where ever we need to and demand that they give him a fair trial!"

Harry looked so determined and passionate about it that Severus knew he didn't stand a chance if the boy asked him to help.

So he sighed in defeat and looked at him.

"All right, Ill help, but you realize that if Black gets out, you will most likely be put in his care right? You'll be taken away from your adopted parents."

"Wait 'Arry's adopted?"

"Yes I am Hagrid, and yes I understand Sev, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now I wanna get what we came here for and then do a little research into getting an innocent man out of Azkaban."

After saying goodbye to Hagrid; Harry and Snape went to the trust vault that Harry's parents left him. It was there that Severus explained the currency in the wizarding world and they filled a bag with the various coins.

"I didn't know they left me this much!" Harry had said.

"Once you're sixteen you'll receive the Potter vaults as well." Severus had said.

"Woah! What really?"

"The Potters are a long line of purebloods Harry."

"Cool!"

Then they left and their shopping trip began.

* * *

They started in Flourish and Blotts, going through and picking out the books he needed for his school year, as well as different books on the wizarding world that Harry had wanted.

He didn't want to walk into Hogwarts not knowing anything after all.

After his books were paid and done, they walked out and Harry asked if they could go Eeylops Owl Emporium because he wanted to be able to talk to his parents when it was time to go.

Cain was very against this idea.

"_The thing will kill me hatchling! Pleassse don't do it!_" The snake hissed frantically, making Harry snicker.

"Whats he saying?" Severus asked.

"He says that I shouldn't get an owl because it'll eat him, but Ill be looking for one that's good with snakes!"

"_Id rather you jussst not get one!_"

"_Aww come on Cain! I want to be able to tell my mum and dad whats going on in Hogwarts!_" Harry hissed back, making Severus wince. "What'd I do this time?"

"I suggest you don't speak in Parsletongue in public."

"Why?"

"Parsletongue is considered a dark trait since You-Know-Who was able to speak it."

"That's dumb."

"I agree, and I'd tell you that you shouldn't care, but you should, you don't want to be alienated when you're the Savior of the Wizarding world."

"Mmph. Well fine."

"_Haha! That meansss you cant tell me to be quiet!_" Cain crowed.

"Shut up Cain, just cause I cant tell you to be quiet in your language doesn't mean I cant in English."

"_Rude._"

Harry cackled and then pulled Severus by his sleeve to the Owl Emporium.

After a bit of searching, Harry had been able to find a pretty snowy white owl with black spots on her feathers.

The kicker? Cain actually liked her.

"_She wont eat me. I can tell._" The snake had said.

And that was enough for Harry, he purchased the owl immediately along with other supplies and a little booklet on how to take care of her.

They'd been leaving when Severus spoke up.

"What will you name her?"

"Hmm…" Harry mumbled, looking at the owl from all angles. "Hedwig! Do you like that name girl?"

The owl, now named Hedwig, hooted her appraisal.

"So mote it be!" He said, snickering.

They walked to the middle of the plaza and then Severus turned to Harry.

"You go into Madam Malkin's and get your robes. Get your standard robes and at least two sets of dress robes all right?" He said,

"Err… Okay? What about you?" Asked Harry.

"Im going to go to the Apothecary and get you your potions supplies."

"Oh yeah! You teach potions! Im gonna memorize my potions book just for you Sev!"

"You're going to memorize all your text books brat." He said fondly, barely resisting the urge to ruffle the boy's hair.

Dammit. He wasn't supposed to get attached.

"Im not a brat!"

"Sure you aren't. Go."

Harry grumbled a fine and handed Hedwig to Severus, running off to enter the store.

The owl hooted at him and Snape glared at it.

"I feel as if you are mocking me. Stop it."

Hedwig gave him a look and Severus shook his head.

"Im loosing it." He grumbled, walking towards the Apothecary.

* * *

Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was run by none other than Madam Malkin herself, who was a short stout witch with a kind smile.

"Hogwarts dear?" She had kindly asked him when he walked in and Harry had nodded. "Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

She led him to the back of the shop, where a pale boy with a pointed face was standing on a second stool being fitted by another witch. Harry stood on the stool and listened as Madam Malkin asked him what he needed, he repeated what Severus had told him and then just stood still.

"Hello," said the boy, startling Harry a bit, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Err, yes." Said Harry.

"My dad's next door buying my books and my mum is down the street looking at wands." The boy said in such a bored drawling tone that it made Harry want to yawn. "After Im done here Im going to drag them to look at racing brooms. Can't believe first years aren't allowed brooms, perhaps Ill bully father into buying me one and Ill smuggle it in somehow."

Harry just stared.

"Have _you_ got a broom?"

"Nope!" Harry said cheerfully, popping the 'p'.

The boy raised an eyebrow.

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"I have no clue what that is!"

The boy sneered.

"Oh are you a mud – muggleborn?" He asked, barely catching himself from saying something else.

Oh that was something he just barely learned in one of the books Sev got for him.

"Halfblood actually!"

"So one of your parents is a muggle?"

"Nope again! Mum was a muggleborn and my dad was a pureblood!"

"Was?"

"They're dead."

"Oh… sorry." He said, though Harry didn't think he sounded very sorry at all.

But that was fine! It was the thought that counted.

The two boys sat in (what Harry thought was) amiable silence. Well again, only half silence, what with Harry quietly talking to Cain. Who, by the way, thought that the pale boy was 'hella rude'.

Then the door in the front dinged and Severus Snape walked in.

"Uncle Sev!" "Sev!"

The two boys froze and looked at each other, one hostile and the other curious.

"How do you know my godfather?" The pale boy groused.

"Oh hey I didn't know he was your godfather! He's accompanying me in my shopping and helping me learn more about the wizarding world!" Chirped Harry.

The black clad man joined the two boys in the back and took a seat.

"Oh Draco. I didn't know you were going to be here today."

Harry's smile grew to an almost feral looking grin.

"Your name is Draco?" He asked.

"Yes, Draco Malfoy." The boy, Draco, said, "and yourself?"

"Im Harry Potter!"

He had honestly forgotten (ha) that his name was famous here. He was brutally reminded (HA) that it was when Draco's eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

"Are you trying to catch flies Draco?" Harry asked, gently patting Cain's head when the snake's uncontrollable laughter had begun to tickle his collarbone.

"Y-You're Harry Potter?"

"Mmhmm!"

"I was really mean to Harry Potter." He seemed worried.

"Yup!"

"You're okay with that?" Desperate now.

"Of course!"

"Oh I kn– wait what?"

"I said I was okay with it." He said, smile returning to grin at Draco's look. "Im pretty forgiving, I mean, whats the point of holding a grudge you know?"

"Ah… yeah, yeah I know what you mean." He said, relief washing over his pale features.

"However! If you make friends with me and then I find out you were only friends with me because of my name," Harry tilted his head, grin becoming malicious, "then we're gonna have a problem."

A collective shudder ran through the room, and Severus figured that Della's little 'blackouts' did more to Harry's psyche than the boy let on.

Harry hopped off the stool at Madam Malkin's insistence and waved to Draco.

"See you later Draco!" He chirped, taking Severus's sleeve and pulling him to the counter, where he arranged for the robes to be sent to his house and then paid.

"Oh yeah Sev, where are the potion supplies anyway?" He asked as they left the store.

"I took the liberty of buying you a trunk and storing your supplies in there." Said Severus, taking out a candy bar sized trunk. "I also took the liberty of shrinking it."

"Thanks! What else do we need?" Harry said, skipping.

"All that's left is your wand."

Harry whooped and motioned for Severus to lead the way.

"Hurry!" He chirped, bouncing up and down as they walked.

* * *

Ollivander's wand shop was a small, cluttered and oddly musky smelling place. You'd expect the place to smell like wood or glaze, but nope. Musk.

"Mr. Potter, I've been expecting you for some time." Said a gravelly voice.

Harry jumped and looked at Ollivander.

Ollivander looked like a typical old man, lean and spindly, hobbling over as if he couldn't support himself. What made him different was his eyes, they were wide and pale, as if he had seen all the secrets the universe had to offer.

"Er um… You have?" Harry questioned quietly, those pale eyes unnerving him and making him feel as if Ollivander was seeing into his very soul.

"I have. You have your mother's eyes, ah it seems like only yesterday that she was here, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow, good for charm work."

Harry stayed silent, inching back when Ollivander came closer.

"Your father on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches, pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. It's the wand that chooses the wizard of course."

Ollivander had come so close to Harry that the poor boy was starting to feel closed in, and as a result, his breathing became shallower.

"And that's where…" He mumbled, reaching up to touch Harry's forehead.

Harry intervened however, and moved to the side, taking deep breaths of air. He officially did not want to be in the store longer than necessary if the owner was going to be that close to him.

Ollivander looked a trifle upset, but luckily noticed Severus.

"Ah! Severus Snape! Its been a while hasn't it? E–" He began, Severus cutting him off.

"We are not here for me. Please help Harry with his wand."

"Of course, of course…"

At this point Harry was sure that Ollivander was mad. Super-duper-off-his-rocker mad.

The old man snapped his fingers, and a tape measure whipped up and began measuring every nook and cranny of Harry's body, which of course made the boy very uncomfortable.

"What is your want hand Mr. Potter?" He asked.

"Oh er… Im right handed?" Offered Harry.

Ollivander nodded and went to search his many shelves.

"Here, try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible." He said when he came back, offering the box to Harry.

Harry had barely pulled it out of the box before it was snatched up by Ollivander.

"No no." He mumbled, picking another box. "Try this one. Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy."

The process was repeated and once again, Ollivander pulled the wand away before Harry could so much as wave it.

"No no – here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches. Springy. Go on, try it."

This time Harry waved it and a nearby flower pot exploded. Ollivander shook his head and kept urging Harry to try different wands.

And he tried. And tried. And tried some more, and soon there was a small pile of wands on the counter and Harry was feeling more frustrated by the minute. Mr. Ollivander however was ecstatic.

"Tricky customer eh? No worries, we'll find the perfect match." He said, before looking thoughtful. "I wonder – well it couldn't hurt to try?"

The man wandered into the back and came back a couple seconds later.

"Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." He said.

Before Harry picked it up, he looked at Ollivander and Severus. Ollivander was full of glee and Sev looked… nervous? He shrugged it off and picked up the wand.

It physically exploded.

Harry jumped a foot in the air, Ollivander looked confused, and Severus checked on Harry's arm.

"How… odd." Ollivander said.

"Whats odd?"

"The phoenix feather that resided in that wand, had given another feather… that feather was in You-Know-Who's wand."

"What does THAT mean?"

"It meant that your wand and His wand were brothers. It meant that, if You-Know-Who came back, you both would not be able to fight with those wands… but I suppose I was wrong. Next!"

A couple more wands and eventually Ollivander thought of another wand.

"It could be." He mumbled, disappearing behind the shelves and coming back with another box. "Ghost gum, basilisk venom core. Eleven inches. Springy and good for potions."

Harry raised an eyebrow but took the wand anyway.

Warmth spread up his arm and the wand spew silver and gold sparks into the air, the store lighting up like the 4th of July.

"Oh bravo! Never thought I'd see the day that wand left this store." Ollivander said.

"Its been here long?" Harry asked.

"Ever since its been made. It never seemed to like people, oh but it adores you Mr. Potter! That'll be 7 Galleons."

Harry gave the wand a look, but shrugged, slinking forwards and paying the old man seven gold coins and heading out.

"Ill be there in a minute Harry." Severus called, making Harry frown.

"But why? I wann – oh hey look it's Draco!" The boy chirped, racing outside to show his new friend his wand.

Once Severus' business had been dealt with and the two of them had said goodbye to the Malfoys ("They're really nice!" "Are they?"), Severus and Harry headed back to the Lopez home.

"Mum! Look at my new wand!" Harry said,

* * *

waving his wand around when Nila had opened the door, sparkles and streamers decorating the room.

"Oh that's wonderful! Now come in the kitchen! We have a birthday to celebrate!" Nila said, clear relief written over her face. It was obvious that the woman had thought that it was all an elaborate prank, but now she had proof and relaxed.

"Woo hoo! Sev! Come in!"

The dour professor chuckled warily and took a step back.

"I'd rather not." He said.

"Oh come now! We're all friends here!" A new voice said.

A squeal of 'dad!' let Severus know that the 6'3 man in the doorway was Ray Lopez, the Hispanic male held his hand out, waiting for Severus to shake it.

"Thank you for taking care of my son." He said, firmly shaking Severus's hand when he had it.

"It was my pleasure." And it was surprisingly true. He had fun with the brat today.

"At least stay for cake! Please Sev?" Harry pleaded, shooting Severus the best puppy dog eyes he had.

Snape didn't even stand a chance.

He had huffed and griped when he was pulled into the festivities, but he had fun nonetheless and when it was time to open the presents, Harry had been rather happy at what Severus got him.

With a new wand holster and an advanced potions book in hand, Harry swore to him that he would memorize every word in that book by the time the new school year started.

Then the party was over, and Severus was heading home.

He was surprised though, when Harry bid him goodbye by giving him a big hug.

"Thanks for taking me out today. I had fun!" The boy said, yawning widely and sleepily waving goodbye as Severus left.

The Lopez's gave him their thanks and bid him good night.

He would never admit it but that night?

Severus Snape fell asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

AN: Dear gods in the heavens that was a long ass chapter.

I apologize in advance with the late chapter, but well, it was super long and took a while to write.

Plus, my beta had work so I had to wait for her. Hail to the great God Kiwi.

I just didn't want to drag the Diagon Alley chapter out any more than it needed.

I hope I did Severus justice!

Also wand thing will be explained if asked.

What else…

Oh right! I know its too early for pairings, but who should Harry end up with? Im thinking the Weasley twins (yes both of them) or Draco. Dunno yet.

Also Ron, good or bad? Or like, starts out bad and then gets good? What should I do with Ginny? Hermione's set so don't worry about her. So is Dumbles so don't ask.

Mmph, think that's it! Hope you guys enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Hey guys. Sorry for not updating for the past 2 weeks, I went to a local con and had to spend all week finishing up some cosplay, and then I spent the next week recovering.

Back now though! And I'm not going to make you guys wait that long ever again! Or at least I'll try.

Update schedule should start getting back in order now!

Still need some feedback though. This story can't progress in certain parts without feedback!

But anyway let's get to it then.

"Normal Speak"

"_Parsletongue_"

"_**Della**_"

'_Thoughts_'

* * *

Deduction 4:

August came and went and before Harry knew it, it was time to go.

"Are you sure you want to go sweetie? No one will blame you if you don't." Nila said, watching her son go through his mental list for the umpteenth time.

"I'm sure mum! I'll be back for the holidays, I promise!" He said, turning to smile toothily at his mother.

Nila sighed and gave a nod, moving forward to pull her son into a tight hug.

"If anything happens, anything at all, please tell us." She said, her words muffled by Harry's hair. "We'll miss you angel."

"I'll miss you too mum." He said, hugging her back with equal force.

"Don't I get a hug?" Came a deep voice from the doorway.

"Dad!" Harry squealed, running towards Ray and jumping on him.

"Hey angel what's up?" Ray questioned, ruffling his son's already unruly hair.

"Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" He asked, bouncing on his heels.

Ray mock gasped. "Why angel, I'm hurt! I guess if you don't want me here I'll just leave." He said, shuffling to the door with his head down.

"No! Dad! Mum make him stop!" Harry cried, trying to pull him back.

"Ray quit it!" Nila snapped, making the Hispanic straighten up and rub the back of his neck.

"Sorry sorry, just wanted to play a little trick you know?"

Nila gave him a hard glare and Ray winced.

"Sorry angel, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm here cause I wanted to see you off! Snape is going to come get you isn't he?"

"Oh… yeah he is!" Harry chirped, deciding to ignore and forgive his dad for what just happened. "Though I wonder why he asked us to make sure the fireplace was open."

The answer came in the form of a flaring green fire appearing in the fireplace, and then out stepped Professor Severus Snape, much to the family's surprise.

"Sev! Hi! How'd you do that?" Harry asked, bounding over to the man to give him a hug.

Severus made a noise of discomfort when he was hugged and awkwardly patted the boy's back. He still wasn't used to hugs.

"Didn't you read the book on magical artefacts we got you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy's sheepish look.

"I wanted to get my school books memorized first. So many books and so little time ya know?"

Severus could understand that.

"Well I suppose you'll be off then?" Nila questioned, stepping forward with her husband at her side.

"Yes, you'll see him again on Christmas holidays." Severus said, stepping back to watch the family say their goodbyes. It made him feel happy and sad at the same time, sad because it should have been Lily wishing Harry good luck, and happy because Harry deserved a good family.

"Be good angel, eat well and get plenty of sleep. Don't neglect your homework okay?" Nila fussed, hugging her son close.

"Yeah, be sure to write and listen to your professors." Ray said, "And make sure to tell us what House you get in!"

"I will mum, dad." Harry said, hugging his parents back before pulling away and pulling his trunk towards the fireplace.

"Professor Snape?" Nila addressed, waiting until the man was looking at her to continue. "Take care of my son and… and make sure he doesn't blackout all right?"

"I promise." Severus said.

"Thank you."

Severus quickly explained what a Floo was and how to use it, before motioning to Harry to take a handful of Floo powder and to step into the fireplace.

"What about my trunk?" Asked Harry.

"Ill shrink it." Severus replied.

"And what about Hedwig and Cain?"

"You aren't allowed to take Cain Harry."

"Whelp too late to put him back now."

This earned an exasperated sigh from Severus and three identical snickers from the Lopez's and Harry.

"They'll be fine brat."

Harry grinned and raised his hand, he made sure to speak loudly and clearly when he said:

"Platform 9 ¾!"

* * *

The next thing he knew he was being pulled through the fireplace and appeared in a cloud of green fire and soot on the platform. Harry stumbled out and was barely able to catch himself before he fell, coughing and waving his hand to clear the soot.

Severus walked out next and Harry puffed his cheeks out.

"How come you came out so gracefully?" He asked.

"Years of practice Harry." He replied, unshrinking Harry's trunk and pets before pushing the cart towards the boy.

"Mmph… Thanks!" He chirped, finally taking a look around the place.

The train station was grand, big and swarming with different kinds of witches and wizards. First years were hugging their mothers and saying fervent goodbyes, the older ones were eagerly getting on the beautiful red train.

Harry whistled.

"Nice." He said, pushing his cart towards the train.

"It is rather nice." Severus agreed, "Harry, I have to return to Hogwarts, but I'll see you there. I expect you to excel in my class."

Harry straightened up and saluted Severus.

"Sir yes sir!" He chirped, snickering at the odd looks he received.

"Brat" Intoned Severus, ruffling Harry's hair and pushing the boy towards the train. "Go."

Harry waved goodbye and joined the others in trying to get his stuff in the train.

After getting into the train (thank god for ramps) and finding an empty compartment, Harry spent several minutes attempting to get the trunk into the holding space above his head (with the blasted thing falling on his foot more than once). Harry was about to give up when two identical voices appeared behind him.

"Need a hand?" They intoned, startling Harry rather badly.

"Yes please." Harry panted, moving aside for the two red headed boys.

With the twins help, Harry had successfully put the trunk in the upper holding space.

Harry made a noise of triumph and pumped his fist in the air, using his other hand to pull his hair from his eyes.

"What's that?" One of the twins asked, pointing at his lighting scar.

"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you –?"

"He is!" Said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.

The entire affair made his head spin so all Harry managed was an intelligent "_huh?_"

"Harry Potter!" Chorused the twins.

"Oh him." Harry said, "err, yes, I am."

The twins started gawking at him and Harry honestly wished that he would just spontaneously combust or something before his savior came in the form of a woman's voice outside of the train.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming mom!" The twins chirped, leaving the compartment with one last look at Harry.

_Well_.

If _that _wasn't the most bizarre experience he'd ever had he didn't know what was.

Soon after the twins had left, a familiar shock of platinum blonde hair opened his compartment door/

"Draco!" Harry chirped, motioning for the other boy to come in.

"Oh hey Harry." Draco said, a small smile lighting up his face.

They both worked together to get Draco's trunk on the overhead space and when it was done, Harry taught Draco what a high five was.

Then the boys high fived and it resulted in the most satisfying sound ever.

"So how was the rest of your summer?" Draco asked.

"Uneventful, hey! You wanna meet my snake?" Harry asked.

Draco perked immediately.

"You have a snake? Wait, you aren't allowed a snake though."

"Heck yeah! His name is Cain and he's probably sleeping, lemme grab him. Also I smuggled him in so you're sworn to secrecy Draco."

Draco crossed his heart, making both boys laugh.

Harry moved to rustle around his trunk but was distracted by outside voices saying his name.

"Did you just hear your name?" Asked Draco.

"Shh!" Harry hissed, pressing his ear to the glass, Draco hesitantly copying the action.

"…oh, Mom, oh please…"

"Ginny the boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo!" Came a woman's voice, "is he really, Fred? How do you know?"

Oy, if the way that woman asked if Fred knew it was him wasn't the creepiest thing…

"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there – like lightning." Said Fred.

"Poor dear…"

Harry's eyes narrowed, she didn't sound as if she was actually sorry for him.

"Do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

"I forbid you fr-"

The voices trailed off as Harry pulled away from the window and began rummaging in his trunk.

"I do remember." Harry said.

"Hmm?" Draco asked.

"Volde – err, You-Know-Who. I remember how he looks like and what happened that night."

"Wow…"

"… I'll tell you about it some time."

"Nah, I'd rather not make you relive it."

"… Thanks."

Draco made a noise and the two fell into companionable silence, until Harry found Cain.

"Aha!" He chirped, gently pulling the snake out of his habitat. "Here he is!"

"_Where am I?_" Cain asked groggily, raising his handsome head to look at Draco. "_Who's the scrub?_"

"I don't know what scrub means Cain, and I'm not gonna ask. This is Draco." Harry replied, making Draco gawk.

"Y-You can talk to him?" He asked.

"Sure I can! Sev just told me to not ACTUALLY talk to him in public… you won't tell will you?"

"Not a soul! Can I hear?"

"… Sure."

"_Oo, we get to scare a scrub, this is gonna be good._" Said Cain with a hissy snicker.

"_Be nice Cain! Draco's my friend, sides, we're going to be living with him for most of the year! Well, maybe._" Harry replied, making Draco gasp in awe.

"That's so cool!"

"_Dammit. The scrub isn't scared._"

"Hey! You aren't supposed to swear!" Harry scolded the king snake, picking him up and putting him back inside the habitat with a huff. "Time out."

There was another hiss as Harry sat down that made the boy go bright red.

"What did he say?" Draco asked.

"Don't worry about it." Squeaked Harry.

There was another long pause of companionable silence.

"Want to play Wizards Chess?"

"Heck yeah."

Draco beamed at Harry and began to pull out his set.

"Err Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"How do I play?"

* * *

After Draco explained the rules and they began playing, Harry quickly learned that he really sucked at Wizards Chess.

Like they had been playing for a while now and Harry's lost every single time.

His eidetic memory and acute observation weren't helping at all.

"You're cheating. I don't know how you're cheating, but you're totally cheating." Harry griped as he lost for the 10th time.

"I'm not. You're just no good at this." Draco gloated, grinning toothily at him.

A small noise of distress left both boys when the train lurched and began moving.

"… Did we depart late or am I just going crazy?" Harry asked.

"Crazy." Replied Draco.

"Oh that's rich!"

The two boys began playfully bickering, calling each other silly names and shoving one another. They bickered with such intensity that they didn't notice when the compartment door slid open once more.

"Hey can I si- what are you two doing?" Came a voice from the door.

Both boys froze and pulled away from each other. Draco had a light flush on his face that he expertly hid behind his cold and calculating mask. Harry on the other hand was grinning like a maniac and not even trying to pretend.

"Fisticuffs!" He declared, snickering at the glare Draco shot him.

"Oh err… okay?" The redheaded boy said.

"Anyway what were you saying?"

"Uh… Can I sit with you? Everywhere else is full." Said the boy.

"No." Draco said.

"Draco?" Harry questioned, simultaneously appalled and confused.

"Harry he's a WEASLEY." The word Weasley was spat out as if it was poison.

"So?"

"Yeah so?" The redhead boy challenged.

Draco spluttered.

"They're the wrong sort you should be hanging out with!"

"Oh and why is that?" Harry demanded with a sharp glare.

"They're poor and they're patriarch is obsessed with muggles, and on top of that they're BLOOD TRAITORS." Draco spat.

"You sound like a Malfoy." The boy hissed.

Draco stuck his nose in the air.

"That's because I am."

This sparked a whole new argument and eventually Harry just had enough.

"_Enough._" Harry said, crossing his arms across his chest.

Both boys froze.

"You two are acting like five year olds!" He said, getting up and forcing the other two to sit down. "I don't know what went down with your families, but I don't care! You both seem like great people to me and I don't want to end up having to choose between you when I'd rather be friends with both of you!"

Harry stomped towards the door.

"Harry? Where are you going?" Draco asked, hesitantly.

"I'm leaving, going to cool my head." He said, "you two don't even know each other so do me a favor and get to know each other, _or else_."

The raven haired boy then ripped the door open and left.

* * *

"I hate you Weasley." Draco hissed.

"Feeling's mutual Malfoy." The redhead replied.

The two sat in silence as the train bounced along the tracks.

Eventually Draco cracked.

"Listen. I don't care for you and I can tell you don't care for me." Draco began, glaring when the other boy snorted.

"That's the understatement of the century."

"Let me finish!" He sighed, running a hand through slicked blonde hair. "I don't like you, you don't like me, but I for one actually do want Harry as a friend."

"Oh really? So you can get revenge for your Dark Lord?"

"NO!" Draco exclaimed, growling in frustration. "I never liked that psychopath!"

That made the redhead blink.

"You… You didn't?"

"No! I mean, originally he had some good ideas, but then the power went to his head and he just…"

"Went crazy?"

"Yeah."

"How do you know all that?"

"My dad told me, said that he was worried about You-Know-Who coming back and how he didn't want me getting involved."

"Really…"

"Yeah. But this isn't about me! This is about Harry. I don't want to lose him as a friend, but I know that I can't get along with you."

"Can't just put centuries of hating each other behind us?"

"Come off it, you can't do it either."

"Yeah… So what do we do?"

Draco shrugged.

"I guess we could… Hate each other in silence?" He said.

"What do you mean?" The other boy asked.

"Well, I want to keep Harry as a friend, and you seem to want to be friends with him."

"Well yeah he seems pretty nice."

Draco nodded, a fond smile appearing on his face when he remembered the letters he and Harry sent to one another during the summer.

"He is. So I propose, that when he's around we at least try to be nice to each other."

"And when he's gone, we can go at each other's throats?"

"Exactly. Just not too much violence because then he'll figure it out and we could get in trouble."

The boy thought for a bit.

"Well… Sounds good to me!" He said, holding out his hand. "Ron Weasley."

Draco took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Draco Malfoy."

"I still hate you."

"Feeling is still mutual."

"Let's go find Harry."

Draco nodded and both boys headed out of the compartment.

* * *

Harry walked through the cramped halls of the train with his hands in his pockets, every once in a while the train would lurch and he would pitch forwards, he'd usually catch himself though.

The train lurched again and Harry stumbled, unable to catch himself in time, he braced for impact and was surprised when he never hit the ground.

"Careful there!" Came two very familiar identical voices.

Harry looked at his stomach where two sets of hands had steadied him and looked back to their owners.

It was the twins from earlier.

"You two!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yes." The twin on the right said.

"It's us." Said the twin on the left.

"We were just heading to a friend's compartment –"

"When we saw you fall forwards –"

"Naturally we came to help –"

"Just on time right Gred?"

"Right Forge!"

"So are you all right?" They finished at the same time.

By this time Harry was thoroughly confused and dizzy by the twin's way of speaking.

"You know we never properly introduced ourselves." Said twin on the left.

"That's right! Well I'm Fred." Said the right twin.

"And I'm George."

"And I think you're lying." Harry said as he sunk to the ground.

The twins were surprised.

"Why we would never!"

"But tell us why you think that!"

Harry pointed at the twin calling himself George.

"You called him," here he pointed at 'Fred', "Forge. Since I suspect the nicknames are just play ons of your real names, which means that you're Fred. And the other is George."

The two twins stared at him for a while and then grinned.

"Wow you're smarter than you look!" Said George, sitting to the right of Harry.

"Most people usually don't notice that about us!" Said Fred, sitting to the left.

"Leave it to Harry Potter to figure it out!"

Harry laughed.

"Well it helps that I have an eidetic memory."

"Photographic huh? That's pretty cool." Fred said.

"Pretty sucky you mean."

"And why is that?" George asked.

"I can't forget anything, even if I really want to."

The twins lit up.

"So does that mean you remember –"

"The night my parents died? Yeah… I don't want to talk about it."

The twins pouted.

"Well all right –" Fred began.

"But that means –" George continued

"You need to answer a question for us!" They finished in unison.

"Sure, but you two need to quit the twin speak, its making my head spin." Harry replied.

"Fair enough!" Chirped Fred.

"So why are you out here by your lonesome?" Asked George.

Harry sighed, annoyance coming back to him.

"Cause my friend Draco and a guy who looks a bit like you two, were fighting for no good reason."

"Wait, looks like us?" Said George, looking at his brother. "Is he about this tall, with a weird splotch of dirt on his nose?"

"Err… yeah."

"Hey that's our brother Ron!"

Harry grinned.

"Figured as much." He snarked, getting a swat on the head as a result.

"It's the hair isn't it?" Fred asked.

"Yup… Hey why does your family hate the Malfoys?"

Fred and George shrugged.

"To be honest we're not really sure." Fred answered.

"You see, our dad works in the Ministry with Mr. Malfoy, and it seems that Mr. Malfoy isn't the nicest person to our dad." George said.

"We don't blame him, our dad is really obsessed with muggle things and that's kind of a big no-no here." Fred said, shaking his head at Harry's questioning look. "Long story."

"Anyway, our dad would come home from work and begin bad mouthing Mr. Malfoy, calling him a Death Eater and other nasty things. I guess the hate just kind of rubbed off on us." George continued.

"'Course Mr. Malfoy is kind of mean to our family and in turn says things to his family about us. And it just creates a swirling vortex of hate with no real meaning other than two alpha males unable to back down from one another." Fred finished.

"Oh… That's really, really dumb." Harry said.

"Man tell us about it!" George said, leaning his head on the wall.

"We're so sick and tired of being drawn into this feud!" Fred said, putting his cheek on Harry's head, much to the raven's distress.

"If we're being honest we think the Malfoy's are pretty decent people." They chorused. "They just have a different view of things and that's okay."

Harry snorted.

"I wish everyone was like you two. Accepting." He said, making Fred get off of him.

The twins stared at each other and then swept Harry up in a very awkward double hug.

"Thanks Ry! You're pretty okay too." They chirped.

"Ry?" Harry asked, struggling to get out of the twins surprisingly strong grip.

"Your new nickname!"

"Seriously? My name is already short enough as it is!"

"Shh, just accept it Ry." Fred said.

Harry huffed and went slack in the twins' arms.

"All right fine… Gred, Forge." He returned.

The twins gave a whoop and began walking down in the direction Harry had just come from.

"Err, where are we going?" He asked.

"To return you to ickle Ronnikins and your Malfoy friend." Said George.

"Could you put me down at least?"

"No can do!" Fred replied.

Harry sighed and just resigned to his fate. At least he wasn't in danger of falling anymore.

* * *

"Hi Draco."

"Err… Hi Harry."

"Did you and Ron fix your differences?"

"Yeah we did… Why are you in my brothers' arms?"

"Cause they refuse to put me down."

Ron and Draco had come across Harry, Fred and George in the oddest of ways.

Mostly because Fred and George really did refuse to put the tiny raven down.

And somewhat because Harry was completely okay with this.

"Hey wait, how do you know my name?" Ron asked.

"How do you know mine?" Harry shot back.

Draco snickered and winced when Ron scuffed him upside the head.

"Draco told me, and well you're kinda famous."

"Gred and Forge told me."

Said twins waved, and Ron glowered.

"Please put me down now." Harry asked.

The twins just laughed.

* * *

After that fiasco, the three first years returned to their compartment. And with their combined efforts they were able to lift Ron's trunk into the holding space where Harry was sitting.

This resulted in a three way high five that gave such a crisp smacking sound, that it could be heard down the hall.

As it was the three boys were currently bored out of their minds, at least until Harry got it into his head that they should have a Wizards Chess tournament.

"Harry we only have three people." Draco commented.

"So?" Said raven demanded, crossing his arms.

"So it's going to be unfair!" Ron replied.

Harry pouted.

"So we go find one of the twins or something, cause I really want to do this."

"Harry, my brothers don't like to play Wizard's Chess, they really suck at it."

The three had begun to bicker, Harry trying to convince the other two to come with him to find a fourth player, and Draco and Ron trying to explain that they couldn't just go and steal away a kid at random.

At that moment the compartment door flew open once more, a bushy haired girl standing in the doorway, hands on her hips.

"Have any of you seen a toad? My friend Neville's lost one." She said.

The three boys looked at one another, two pleading and one full of mischievous intent.

Harry got up and pulled the girl into the compartment, sitting her down next to him.

"What on earth are you doing?!" She demanded.

"Hi! My name's Harry Potter! This is Ron Weasley," a grunt, "Draco Malfoy," a polite hello, "and do you want to play in a Wizards Chess tournament with us?" He finished, taking a big gulp of air afterwards.

The girl was dumbstruck before she gave a hesitant nod.

"H-Hermione Granger." She mumbled, coughing and then straightening up. "Ill only play one round however, because I need to get back to my friend."

"Sounds good to me!" Chirped Harry.

"All right so, who goes against who?" Ron asked.

"Well, I know how Harry plays so that wouldn't be fair, I'll play Hermione, if that's okay with you?" Draco said, turning to Hermione, who nodded.

"All right, so I'll play Ron!" Harry announced.

"Err… We only have one chess board though." Ron commented.

"Oh its fine, I'll make it quick." Draco said.

Hermione scoffed.

"We'll see about that!" She announced.

* * *

Ron and Harry had to admit, Hermione sure played a fierce game of chess. Even if she did complain that it was a tad too gruesome for her.

She and Draco were fairly matched, and there had been a few close calls on both sides, but inevitably, Draco won.

When the match was over, Hermione stood and offered her hand to the blonde.

"You play well. Good game!" She chirped.

Draco took her hand and gave it a firm shake.

"You too, good game." He replied.

Hermione then left, saying that she had been gone too long and her friend was probably worried about her.

"She was a nice girl." Harry said, "I liked her."

"Yeah." The other two chorused, shooting each other a glare behind Harry's back.

"Well anyway Harry! It's my turn to beat you." Ron said, sitting down on the black side of the board as the pieces reassembled themselves.

"Hey! Who says you're going to beat me? What if I beat you huh?" Harry challenged, sitting on the white side of the board.

"Well whoever wins is definitely going to lose against me, so it doesn't matter." Draco announced.

"Oh that's rich!" Harry snarked.

Ron snorted.

"Well now I have to win, so I can knock you off your pedestal!" He said, motioning to Harry. "Your move."

Harry moved his pawn and the game began.

* * *

In retrospect, Harry probably should have realized that it was very likely that Ron would beat him in chess, he really sucked at it after all.

Of course, he didn't expect to be utterly destroyed.

"Good game Harry!" Ron said as both Draco and Harry stared at the board in disbelief.

Ron had checked Harry in the first 10 moves of the game, and then ended it in 3 more.

"That was the quickest game of chess I've ever seen." Draco commented, excitement sparking in his grey eyes.

"Err. Good game Ron!" Harry said, shaking Ron's hand as he got up and watched the pieces reassemble.

"Well Malfoy? Sit down." The redhead said, motioning to the white side of the board.

"I don't need a handicap Weasley."

"Well neither do I but I'm not moving."

The two males glowered at each other.

There was a knock at the door.

"Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty. Start the game." Harry taunted, answering the door when he was finished. "Oh and make it quick, Hermione said that we'll be stopping soon and we need to change into our robes."

"Oh don't worry Harry, I'll be wiping the floor with him soon enough." Draco said, finally giving up and sitting across from Ron.

"In your dreams Malfoy." Ron said, as he motioned for Draco to get on with it.

Draco examined the board and made his move.

* * *

If Hermione and Draco were almost equals in chess, then Draco and Ron were carved from the same marble.

Neither boy would give an inch, both were perfectly matched, each mind coming up with a different way to stop the other's move.

Draco was checked first, but he had quickly retaliated and checked Ron soon after.

The game seemed to be going on, and eventually Harry had to remind them that they were only 15 minutes away from the station and that they needed to change.

Neither Ron nor Draco acknowledged him.

The game changer happened when Draco examined the board for his next move and blinked in surprise. The blonde boy examined it some more, then huffed and slouched in his seat.

"Zugzwang." He griped, making Ron grin.

"Glad you realized it too Malfoy." He commented.

Harry just blinked in confusion.

"What does zugzwang mean?" He asked.

"It's a chess term. It's a point in the game where the player realizes that he will inevitably be checkmated." Draco said, continuing as he was, still strong.

However, his prediction turned out to be true, and Ron checkmated him in 4 moves.

"You're not all bad Malfoy." Ron said, holding out his hand.

"The feeling is mutual Weasley. You'd make a decent Slytherin." Draco said, shaking Ron's hand.

"You'd sooner be a Gryffindor, than I a Slytherin."

"Err… Do you guys already know your houses?" Harry asked.

"No, but it's pretty obvious Draco's going to end up in Slytherin." Ron said, jabbing a thumb at Draco as he grabbed his robes.

"And every Weasley that's ever existed has gone into Gryffindor, sides, it's also really obvious." Draco said, coping Ron's actions and retrieving his robes.

Harry frowned.

"Will you guys stop being friends with me if I end up in a different house?" He asked, remembering what he read about the houses and the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

The two other boys scoffed.

"Harry you could end up in Hufflepuff and we would still be your friends." Draco said.

"Yeah! No matter where you go, we'll stick to you like glue!"

"You guys are awesome. Now hurry up and change." Harry said, leaving the compartment so the two boys could change in peace, smiling at the laughter that followed him out.

Yeah, he was really glad they had gotten over most of their differences.

Now if he could just figure out why he felt so uneasy, then he'd be golden.

* * *

Between making Ron and Draco hurry up, making sure Cain and Hedwig would be okay and rushing out of the train to get into a boat, Harry had no real time to say hi to Hagrid.

Which turned out to be okay, because they ended up in the same boat as him.

"Hey Hagrid!" Harry chirped.

"Ah! There ye are 'Arry! I was worried about ye for a second there!" Said Hagrid.

Ron and Draco simply gaped at the large man.

"Oh! Right! Hagrid, these are my friends, Draco, Ron, and Hagrid. Hagrid, Draco, Ron." He introduced.

"Nice to meet ye." Hagrid said as he continued to steer.

"Err, hi." Ron said.

"Nice to meet you." Draco replied.

"Ah thas right, Professor Snape wants to talk to ye "Arry. Something about a dog." He said, giving Harry a not so subtle glance.

Harry whooped.

"Oh that's good!" He said, sighing in relief and waving off his friends' concerned looks. "Don't worry about it."

The boats went into a dark tunnel and when they came out again, they were faced with the sight of a glorious castle.

Harry whistled.

"It's beautiful!" He said, murmurs of agreement following his statement.

They reached the shore in record time and then Hagrid led them to the doors of the castle.

"Everyone here?" Hagrid asked, raising his gigantic fist and knocking three times on the big wooden doors.

The doors slowly swung open and out came a tall black haired witch. She had a very stern face that made the three friends feel as if they had done something wrong.

"Here are the firs' years Professor McGonagall." Said Hagrid.

"Thank you Hagrid, I'll take them from here." The lady, McGonagall, said.

She pulled the door wide, motioning for them all to follow her. She led them across the flagged stone floor, there was the drone of hundreds of voices from the doors to the right, and Harry figured that, that was where the rest of the school was.

However, McGonagall led them to a small empty chamber off of the hall. The rest of the first years huddled nervously together.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," She began. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the ear, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes your.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten ourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She finished, eyes lingering on everyone for a couple seconds.

"I will return when we are ready for you." She said, "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber and Harry gulped.

"Sooo…" He said, turning to his two friends. "Do either of you know how they sort us?"

"No idea. My father refused to tell me." Draco replied.

"Fred told me that there was going to be some sort of test, that it was going to hurt a lot but I think he was joking." Ron said with a shrug.

Harry frowned.

"Well whatever it is, I hope it doesn't kill us." He joked.

The three friends fell silent as they thought about what would await them behind those doors. Harry drowning himself in thoughts that he would be found unworthy of Hogwarts and turned away. Seemed like he still had some psychological scars.

Then several people screamed, making him jump a foot in the air.

He turned and gasped, as did several others.

About twenty or so ghosts began streaming through the back wall. They were white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room, talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. A few of them seemed to be arguing, not that Harry noticed. He was more preoccupied on the fact that a couple seemed to be staring at him with clear distrust and fear. Their staring caused a small headache to form, pounding behind his eyes.

As if something inside him was angry.

"Hey Harry, do you know why their staring at you?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head turning to his friends.

"No… They seem to be afraid of me… Or at least some part of me." He said, "Maybe they see something I don't."

"Maybe they see what a massive dork you are." Draco commented.

"Oh that's rich!" Harry snarked, "either way, its giving me a massive headache."

By this point, some of the ghosts had noticed them and introduced themselves, wishing them good luck and leaving through the wall.

"Move along now," a sharp voice said. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start."

McGonagall had returned.

"Now, form a line." She told the first years. "And follow me."

His legs seemed to have turned to jelly as he got in line behind Draco, Ron behind him. They walked out of the chamber and back across the hall, going through the big double doors into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was something out of a dream, with candles floating in the air. There four tables in neat rows, where the rest of the students sat, at the far end of the hall, sat one long table, where the rest of the professors resided, staring at them. Harry felt his unease grow as he realized that everyone was staring at them, and turned his head upwards to avoid the feeling.

The feeling didn't change, but he noticed the ceiling wasn't a ceiling at all, it looked like the night sky, twinkling stars forming various constellations. He remembers what he read in _Hogwarts, A History_. And from farther up ahead, Hermione says what he was thinking.

"Its bewitched to look like the sky outside." She whispered to her friend.

Harry tuned out and continued to look at the sky, it was hard to believe that there was a ceiling there at all. He turned his attention back to the front, where McGonagall set down a four legged stool and a very old and worn hat on it.

Then the old thing split across the brim and began to sing:

"_Oh you may not think me pretty, _

_But don't judge on what you see, _

_I'll eat myself if you can find _

_A smarter hat than me. _

_You can keep your bowlers black, _

_Your top hats sleek and tall, _

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat _

_And I can cap them all. _

_There's nothing hidden in your head _

_The Sorting Hat can't see, _

_So try me on and I will tell you _

_Where you ought to be. _

_You might belong in Gryffindor, _

_Where dwell the brave at heart, _

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry _

_Set Gryffindor's apart; _

_You might belong in Hufflepuff, _

_Where they are just and loyal, _

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true _

_And unafraid of toil; _

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, _

_If you've a ready mind, _

_Where those of wit and learning, _

_Will always find their kind; _

_Or perhaps in Slytherin _

_You'll make your real friends, _

_Those cunning folks use any means _

_To achieve their ends. _

_So put me on! Don't be afraid! _

_And don't get in a flap! _

_You're in safe hands (though I have none) _

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!_"

The entire hall burst into applause, startling the three friends, it wasn't that good a song after all, although, he guessed it would grow on them in the coming years.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forwards holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." She said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled up and onto the stool, where the professor set the cap on her head, which fell over her eyes.

There was a beat.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Shouted the hat.

The table on the right clapped and cheered as Hannah moved to join them.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Shouted the hat once more, and she scuttled off to sit with Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" became another Ravenclaw.

"Brown, Lavender" became the newest Gryffindor and the table on the far left cheered.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" became the first Slytherin.

Harry blanked out and came back just in time to hear the end of the F's

"Finnigan, Seamus" Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione" Harry perked up at that, watching Hermione practically run up and set the hat on her head.

"RAVENCLAW!" Shouted the hat. Harry clapped along with the table.

Once more, Harry blanked out, barely catching the end of the Ls (Neville Longbottom went to Gryffindor and almost took the hat with him)

He definitely snapped out of it when "Malfoy, Draco" was called.

Draco squeezed his arm and gave him a reassuring smile.

Harry was sure his returning smile looked queasy if Ron's snort and Draco's grin was anything to go by.

Draco swaggered forwards and sat on the stool, the hat barely touched his head before it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Draco went and joined with two very big boys, scooting one of them over in case Harry joined him.

There weren't many people left, and when Harry's unease grew, he missed every name, and almost missed his own.

"Potter, Harry!"

"Good luck mate, remember, we'll still be your friends no matter what." Ron said, gently pushing him forwards.

Harry walked forwards, his breathing beginning to quicken as people began pointing and whispering. This was freaking him out and he was starting to panic.

Severus, who had been watching, began to get up as he noticed the dilemma.

And then:

A pulse of white noise ran through Harry's head and he was suddenly okay, he would be safe, she'd protect him.

He vaguely recognized he should be asking who "she" was.

But that didn't matter, because now he was sitting on the stool and he couldn't see anything but old, leathery material.

"Hmm." Said a voice in his head. "Difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind either. So where to put you?"

"_Anywhere is fine._"

"Anywhere hmm?"

_"My friends promised they'd still be my friends even if I went to Hufflepuff._"

The hat chuckled.

"Well, well, loyal to your friends hmm? Better b –"

"_**Put him in Slytherin**_."

White noise once more filled his head, drowning out the conversation between the hat and whatever else was in his head.

Harry groaned.

"In Slytherin? Well he would do well there, but he's more suited to Gryffindor my dear." The hat replied, fazed not so much by the white noise, but rather by the frightening girl talking to him.

"_**I'm not surprised, but you need to put him in Slytherin.**_"

Black filled Harry's eyes and he slumped forwards slightly, keeping upright through Della's influence.

"And why is that?"

"_**The last thing Harry needs right now is enemies. If he goes to Gryffindor, that's all he'll have, enemies galore, mostly in Slytherin, but there will still be others from different houses. If he goes to Slytherin however, he'll still have plenty of friends and many people to protect him, from the morons who would think he went dark.**_"

"You say that as if he needs protecting."

"_**This boy is a magnet for trouble, I won't ask again. PUT. HIM. IN. SLYTHERIN.**_"

The floor rumbled slightly and Professors McGonagall and Snape were officially concerned. McGonagall because no student had ever taken this long, and Snape because he felt the rumble and knew the source of such malicious intent.

"Well all right. Better be…"

At this moment Harry awoke again, the white noise disappeared and Della's influence went away, leaving him dizzy and sick with confusion.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Harry blinked, he felt gross and disoriented, but nonetheless let his feet guide him to the Slytherin table, where he was greeted by loud cheering and a pair of arms helping him into his seat.

"Are you okay?" Asked a familiar voice.

'_Draco. Dracodracodracodracodraco._' His mind provided.

He shook his head and leaned heavily on the other boy.

"'M really dizzy." He said.

"Sev is looking at you."

Harry put a weak thumbs up in the air, confusing the other Slytherins, but reassuring Severus.

"Here, drink this." Draco said, offering Harry a goblet of water that had appeared.

Harry took the goblet

"Oh than –"

"_**DON'T DRINK THAT.**_"

And promptly dropped it, shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, officially very concerned.

"_**It's laced.**_" Harry said, violently startling the blonde.

"H-Harry? Something's wrong with your voice."

"Huh? Is there?" He asked, slowly straightening up as Della slowly worked her magic and vanished his vertigo.

Draco continued to stare at him but eventually smiled.

"No. Everything is fine." He said.

Harry shrugged, and turned his attention back to the Sorting, just in time to watch Ron walk nervously up to the stool.

He caught the boy's attention and gave him a big thumbs up, getting a shaky smile in return.

Ron sat on the stool and the hat fell over his eyes.

There were a couple beats, and even though it was selfish, Harry really hoped he would come to Slytherin.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Shouted the hat.

Harry frowned for a second but then grinned, shooting Ron another thumbs up, Draco following his lead, when the boy sat down and made eye contact with them.

This made the redhead chuckle and turn back to the front.

At the front, Albus Dumbledore got to his feet and beamed at his students.

"Welcome!" He said, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words, here they are! Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat down and everyone cheered.

Harry blinked and turned to Draco.

"Is he mad?" He asked.

Draco shrugged.

"My father says he is and I'm beginning to believe him." Draco said, smiling as food appeared on the table.

Harry's jaw dropped open as different dishes filled the table. There were things he had seen before, pot roast, mashed potatoes, chicken etc. and various things he hadn't seen before.

"Dig in!" Dumbledore called.

'_Don't mind if I do!' _Harry thought, taking a little bit of everything and piling it on his plate.

* * *

Dinner passed with no distractions and eventually dessert appeared.

Everything seemed to be steering clear of headaches and horrible vertigo.

At least until Harry looked at the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.

He had felt someone staring holes into his head and looked towards the head table. He looked at everyone and found only Severus and the DADA teacher were staring. He waved at Severus and then made eye contact with the DADA Teacher ("His name is Quirell." "Thanks Draco!")

Worst. Idea. EVER.

Pain shot through his head and a white noise that made his head pound and ears ring filled his brain. There were two more presences in his head besides his own. One of them was screaming at the other to _**GET OUT**_.

_**GET OUT, GETOUT, GETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT**_

_** GET. OUT.**_

Harry vaguely heard Draco scream his name and felt blood trickle down his nose. He felt a falling sensation and realized he fell out of his seat.

And then everything went black.

* * *

"He's waking up!"

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes, blinking when he saw nothing but white. He slowly processed that he was in the infirmary.

"W-where?" He croaked.

"You're in the Hospital Wing." Came a stern voice.

Harry turned his head and gave Severus a weak smile.

"Hey Sev."

"Don't you 'Hey Sev' me. What happened in there?" He demanded, though he was sure he knew the answer.

"I don't know, I looked at Professor Quirell and then there was a lot of white noise and someone screaming to get out… Sev? Why do you look so concerned?"

"Because whatever it was caused a blackout." He said.

"Wait, wait wait!" Draco said, making Harry wave. "You mean to tell me, that this happens on a regular basis?"

"Bloody hell Harry that's not good." Ron said, making Harry wave even harder.

"Hey you two!" He said, smiling weakly, "am I glad to see you! As for the blackouts, they actually don't happen all that often, just when I get headaches caused by and or headaches that cause white noise. Then everything kind of goes black and I can't remember anything 30 or so minutes prior to the event."

It hurt Severus to hear the boy say it in such medical terms, no child should have to deal with that.

The other two boys seemed to think the same and frowned.

"So, can I go to my dormitory or whatever Sev?" He asked.

"Sorry, but no, Poppy, the school's Mediwitch said that you are to stay overnight and then you can join your housemates in the morning for breakfast." Severus explained.

Harry huffed, relaxing against the bed.

"Well I guess I'll just go back to sleep then."* He said, the other occupants chuckling at him.

"We'll see you tomorrow Harry." Draco said.

"Let's compare classes when we get the time!" Ron said.

"Who you will be sharing classes with will be stated on your schedules." Severus said, getting up and ushering the other two out. "Good night Harry."

"Night Harry!" Ron called as he was pushed out the door.

"Sleep well!" Draco shouted.

Harry chuckled and settled into bed.

After a while he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

AN: Dear god it's finally finished.

I'm so so so SO sorry for skipping two weeks in a row.

I swear that it won't happen again.

I also apologize for how slowly the story is progressing, Ill try my best to fix that.

Please favorite and review if you liked my story. I wont beg you for it, but it would be nice to have some feedback.

Have a good one guys.

*_An alternate ending if this story took place when they were older and in the year of 2014 (AKA now): _"Well I guess I'll just sit here and fist myself then." He said, the other occupants looking at him in surprise and no small amount of disgust.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Hey guys. Back once more with the fifth chapter.

I think that I'm going to start updating every two weeks, maybe once in a while I'll update every one week, once again, I'm really sorry about not being able to update, things happen you know.

delenda est c: First off, thanks for being the first reviewer! Second off, your question was actually really good! The answer would be that Della ate it. She figured out that Harry's mind (and body) wouldn't be able to take the strain of having two souls and a fragment of a soul inside it, so she got rid of the spare. She absorbed the Horcrux, which was part of why Harry's original wand exploded. However, upon absorbing the soul, Della grew in power and hate. Which isn't necessarily good but isn't necessarily bad.

Annie (Guest): Sorry that it's not your cup of tea, I'll go back and put a warning on the first chapter. I don't really see why you felt the need to go and tell me though, I mean, I'm not going to take it down. :D

Anyway, without further ado, here is the fifth chapter.

"Normal Speak"

"_Parsletongue_"

"_**Della**_"

'_Thoughts_'

**WARNING! While there are no graphic scenes in this chapter, it's only fair to warn you that Della will start becoming a very prominent character in these future chapters. This is because other houses tend to attack Slytherin students willy nilly because they're "evil" as such, Della will be becoming more agitated and aggressive as the chapters progress. As the attacks stop, so will she. This warning is because Della IS an OC, and not many people like OCs, so I apologize in advance for how this played out, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.**

* * *

Deduction 5:

When Harry awoke again, he felt momentary panic when all he saw was white.

Then last night's events came back to him and he almost hit himself for (temporarily) forgetting.

He was still in the Hospital Wing.

A groan left the boy and he slumped back into the bed.

He had no idea what the time was, but he knew that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep anytime soon. He lay there for what seemed like hours before, finally, someone appeared.

A plump and aging witch appeared in front of him, a stern look on her face and her hands on her hips.

"Good morning Mr. Potter." She said, "My name is Madam Pomfrey. I'm the Mediwitch. Would you care to explain to me exactly what happened yesterday night?"

Harry had the decency to blush.

"Err, well, I don't actually know."

Madam Pomfrey raised an eyebrow.

"You see, I don't actually KNOW what causes my blackouts, I just know that it doesn't happen frequently and that they're usually random." He explained. "I also know that the blackouts happen when I have a headache caused by white noise, or brought on by white noise."

"I see…" She said, getting her wand out and waving it. She muttered and incantation and Harry was bathed in blue light.

"Well, the good news is, is that you're free to go, there is no lasting damage from your blackout yesterday, except for a couple bumps and bruises from when you hit the floor."

"And the bad news?"

"I can't seem to determine the cause of your blackouts. They seem to be controlled by someone, or something, but whatever it is, it's not showing on my scan."

Harry gulped, but then shrugged it off and slunk out of bed.

"Well I'll be going now then?" He asked, inching towards the door.

"Yes yes of course. You should still have time to get to your common room and change. The Slytherin common room is down in the dungeon. Go straight down, take two lefts, a right and then another left, you'll then come into a fork, take the right path for the other one leads to a dead end. Mr. Malfoy told me that the password is Basilisk." She said, waving good bye.

Harry mumbled a good bye and left the room, shaking off the question of "how did I get into pajamas in the first place?"

He would never be more grateful to his eidetic memory than he was the moment he stepped into the labyrinth that was the dungeons.

The place was HUGE, and without Madam Pomfrey's directions, he would have gotten lost a million times by now. He still made a mental note to come back on a free day and memorize the dungeons.

For educational purposes of course.

When he arrived at a brick wall, Harry did feel rather stupid whispering Basilisk to it, though the feeling went away when the wall receded and opened to reveal a rather cozy looking common room done in silver and different shades of green.

He felt right at home.

Well I mean, he would, if everyone wasn't staring at him as if he had grown a second head. He shifted and slowly shuffled into the room, his face slowly growing redder as whispers joined the staring.

And then…

"Harry!" He heard, before a flash of blonde crashed into him and almost sent him spiraling to the floor.

"Hey Draco, I didn't realize you were a hugger." He teased, outright laughing when Draco pulled away and straightened himself up.

"I'm not, I was just worried about you." He said, feigning aloofness.

"Mmhmm, sure." Harry said, wincing when he was hit on the arm. "Hey hey! I'm still fragile you know!"

"Sure you are, come on, I'll show you to our room."

"Our?"

"I was able to convince Severus to let us stay in the same room together, since I know how to deal with your blackouts and such."

"If by 'know how to deal' means 'scream like a little girl' then yes, yes you know exactly how to deal with them." He snarked, wincing when he got a sharp smack upside the head this time. "Rude!"

"You deserved it."

Harry gave Draco a Look, which the blonde just snorted at, continuing up the stairs.

"The other flight of stairs leads to the girls rooms, girls can't come to our dorms and we can't go to theirs." He said.

Harry frowned.

"Well what happens if we do?"

"Forcibly ejected, it launches you or something."

"Oh that's just cool."

Draco scoffed.

"Of course you would think that."

"Hey! I was raised by muggles, I think being amused by an ejecting stairwell should be just the beginning!"

The blonde rolled his eyes and opened the second door on the left.

"Well here we are." He said.

Harry's mouth fell open as he walked into the big and spacious room. It was done in the same colors as the common room, the difference being that there were two beds on opposite sides of the room. His trunk rested in front of the right most bed, and Cain was happily lounging in his terrarium on said trunk.

"Where's Hedwig?" He asked.

"Oh, she's in the Owlery, where she's supposed to be."

Harry made a noise of acknowledgement, squeaking and stumbling when Draco pushed him towards his bed.

"Get dressed! Breakfast starts soon and the first years have to follow the older years out." He said.

Harry frowned.

"Why?" He asked, doing as he was told however and quickly rummaging through his trunk for another set of robes. Which, he was pleasantly surprised to find out, we're emblazoned with the Slytherin insignia.

"Apparently the other houses don't like us very much, and we're officially prone to attack now."

Harry promptly dropped his robes to gawk at Draco.

"You're kidding me."

Draco shook his head sadly.

"No I'm afraid not. Now hurry and get dressed, I don't want to miss breakfast." He said, quickly striding out of the room, leaving Harry to his inner turmoil.

The lights in the room flickered as Harry stared at the robes in his hand. From his position on the trunk, Cain lifted his head to stare at the prostrate boy.

The snake then scurried to hide behind his sunning rock when Harry turned to look at him.

The boy blinked and huffed, confused by the snake's action, but quickly changed into his robes.

Then a demonic sounding giggle resonated through the room and the lights flickered once again. Harry lifted his head and blinked in confusion.

"What was that?" He asked, looking around the room and then shrugging, slipping on his shoes and grabbing his book bag as he scurried out the door to join Draco and the older years.

* * *

"Is turkey even a breakfast food?"

"… You know, I'm not entirely sure."

The three boys and one girl (Two from different houses) stared at the turkey in the middle of the table, unaware of multiple pairs of eyes on them.

"Like, a turkey sandwich Id understand, heck even just cold cuts of turkey!" Harry said, giving the steaming bird the Evil Eye, "but a WHOLE Thanksgiving turkey? That's just pushing it."

There were murmurs of agreement from his friends (and a couple from across the table) as they continued to stare at the offending fowl.

Ah, I should recap.

The breakfast had started normally, with Draco and Harry following the older years to the table, where the two boys began eating. Harry, bacon and eggs with a bowl of fruit, and Draco had oatmeal ("That's gross Draco." "YOU'RE gross." "RUDE!").

After they had finished their food, they had been joined by their two other friends from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively ("Hey guys!" "Everyone's staring at us Hermione." Half-hearted shrug). Ron had informed them that they would probably have trouble later, as now most of Gryffindor thought Harry was going to be the next Dark Lord due to his assignment to Slytherin.

Harry thought this fact was dumb. The others were inclined to agree.

Hermione then informed them that they had nothing to worry about from Ravenclaw, as her house didn't care.

The four friends then dropped the topic, and so began the Awkward Silence of Doom.

Which was soon broken when Ron noticed that there was a whole turkey on the table.

Not turkey sandwiches, not turkey sausages, not even turkey cold cuts. But a whole Thanksgiving turkey right smack dab in the middle of the table.

Everyone (and I do mean everyone) was rather confused to the addition of the large bird, and no one knew what to do with it.

Which brings us to the present, and the four people examining the turkey.

"Should we… Should we eat it?" Harry asked, hesitantly picking up a fork.

Ron followed his lead with a grin.

"Now you're speaking my language." He said, positioning the fork and stabbing it into the turkey.

The result was instantaneous.

The bird exploded into confetti and fireworks, which lit up the Great Hall with "CONGRATULATIONS ON INNER-HOUSE UNITY! 50 POINTS TO SLYTHERIN, RAVENCLAW AND GRYFFINDOR!"

This of course cause three things to happen simultaneously.

1) Harry and Ron, who were standing closest to the bird, were covered in confetti and Harry fell back with a sound that could only be described as "squeaky toy noise". Ron was more or less just frozen in shock with the biggest frown on his face.

2) Hermione and Draco burst into loud rambunctious laughter (which Draco would later deny to ever doing), clutching their stomachs and leaning on one another for support.

3) The Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin houses burst into loud cheering and clapping at being awarded 50 points without even doing anything.

Luckily the houses calmed down rather quickly when the professors began to hand out the schedules.

"We're going back to our houses, we'll see each other later okay?" Hermione said, tugging Ron backwards.

"Yeah! I hope we have some classes together!" Chirped Harry, waving goodbye to his friends.

Snape gave him a stern look when he passed, scoffing when he only got a cheeky grin in return.

"Here are your schedules. First and Second years have required classes, but when you go into Third year, you can start picking your own classes." He explained, handing the rectangle pieces of parchment to the two boys.

"Thank you Professor Snape." They chorused.

"So what do we have on deck?" Harry asked, looking at his schedule.

"We have… Transfiguration, Charms, a free period and Double Potions with Gryffindor on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. And History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy and Double Herbology with Ravenclaw On Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also Flying Lessons are on Wednesday." Draco said.

Harry shrugged.

"Doesn't seem too bad." He said.

"Well, I suppose the severity of the schedule is dependent on what our work load will be."

"Dang. Big words."

Draco smacked Harry and then picked up his bag, following the older years out with the chortling ravenette hot on his trail.

* * *

Transfiguration was a rather boring class when you could recite the course book by memory.

Of course the highlight of the class was when someone named Blaise and a girl named Pansy ran in late and got the surprise of a lifetime when the cat on the desk transformed into the professor.

Luckily Professor McGonagall didn't deduct any points from their class, but it was still amusing to watch.

Harry thought it had been rather rude when Draco had snickered at them for the rest of the period and made his discomfort known by kicking the blonde repeatedly under the table.

* * *

Charms was a lot easier in theory and Harry quickly learned that you couldn't survive from just reading the book.

Luckily an eidetic memory helped in the practical part too, because he was one of three people who had been able to cast the breeze charm they were working on, on the first shot.

The other two were, Draco (Obviously) and a boy named Theodore Nott, who was rather shy and didn't deal well with the praise he was given.

They had been given a rather ridiculous amount of homework for the first day back from classes, which found three boys in the library during their free period, trying to get at least a little bit of work done.

Harry, Draco and their new found friend Theodore, ("Please call me Theo." "All righty!") were working on an essay for Transfiguration due on Wednesday.

Well more like Draco and Theo were working. Harry had finished his in his head and then committed it to paper once they entered the library.

"You have no idea how unfair this is." Draco commented, taking a break from his book.

"What do you mean?" Harry questioned, looking up from his doodling of a currently unknown female.

"I mean your eidetic memory! It's not fair."

"Whoa, you have an eidetic memory?" Theo asked, a small smile spreading on his face at the nod of confirmation. "Well that explains how you got it done so quickly."

"Yeah." Harry said, returning to his drawing, frowning at it, the girl currently didn't have a face, but even without it, it didn't look right. "Also, how is it unfair? It's not like I can control it! It's more of a curse than a blessing anyway!"

"At least help us! Instead of sitting there drawing whatever it I- what the hell are you drawing Harry?" Draco asked, horror spreading across his face.

Theo blinked at the sudden fright that appeared in the blonde and took a peek at Harry's drawing, recoiling back as if burned.

"Harry? Why are you drawing a grudge?" He asked.

Harry looked up from his 'fixed' drawing of the girl. He had drawn two eyes with nothing but a circle of white and a mouth that wasn't even a mouth, it was just a row of teeth curved in what seemed to be a smile. The rest of the girl was completely black and she seemed to be spewing smoke.

"It's not a grudge!" Harry protested, crossing his arms. "It's Della."

"Della?" Questioned the other two boys.

"Yeah! Della! She was an imaginary friend I had when I was younger. She was always so serious and REALLY scary! But she would protect me from rats and things like that so I didn't really mind." He said, smiling.

Theo and Draco shared a look before smiling at Harry.

"Ah I see… Could I have that picture Harry? Its surprisingly good for something made predominantly of black." Draco said, holding his hand out for the parchment.

"Huh? Oh, yeah sure." Harry said, blowing on the paper a couple times to make sure the ink was set before handing it to the blonde.

Draco smiled at Harry again before taking the picture and looking at it. He flinched.

The picture had changed.

Her toothy smile had changed into an obvious grimace, and she seemed to be glaring at him.

"Err… Harry?" Draco questioned.

"Yeah Draco?" Replied Harry.

"Did you enchant this picture to move?"

"I can do that?"

"I'll take that as a no."

"Why?"

"Della's expression changed." He said, showing Harry the drawing.

"No it didn't. She's still as happy as ever." Harry said, confusion on his face.

Draco looked, and sure enough, it was true. Della was once more smiling, though when he turned the photo to face him, he watched as she glowered once more.

"That is really creepy." Theo whispered to Draco.

Draco was inclined to agree. He folded up the photo and tucked it into his bag.

"Let's get to Potions okay? Severus will have our heads if we're late." Theo said, getting up.

The other two boys followed his lead and retrieved their things before heading out of the library.

* * *

The three boys ended up at the potions classroom, 20 minutes before class was starting. The door had been unlocked, so they entered and took their seats, Draco and Harry sitting together whilst Theo sat behind them.

"Hey Theo?" Harry questioned.

"Hmm?" Theo asked, looking up from his potions text.

"We have this class with the Gryffindors, and I have a friend in Gryffindor. Would you mind if he sat with you?"

Theo grimaced, shifting uneasily in his seat.

"I don't know…"

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Well, you see, I'm not like you two, I don't have a dad that works as a School Board Governor, and I'm not the Boy Who Lived-"

"I like to think of myself as the Boy Who Wouldn't Die." Harry chirped.

Theo and Draco snorted.

"ANYWAY." Said Theo, "I'm not like you two, so if I'm seen with a Gryffindor, I could get in a lot of social trouble, and its already hard enough making friends as it is…" He finished, looking down at the desk.

"But Theo, aren't we your friends?" Draco asked, turning in his seat to look at the boy.

Theo's head shot up.

"Y-You mean it?"

"Hell yeah - Ow! Draco why?" Harry exclaimed, rubbing the spot where Draco smacked him.

"Don't swear."

"You swore earlier!"

"That doesn't mean you can."

Theo laughed.

Harry and Draco shared a look and then laughed along with him.

When they finally regained their breath, the other students were shuffling in.

"So what do you say?" Asked Harry.

Theo looked thoughtful and then hesitantly nodded.

"Yeah all right. But I expect you guys to stand up for me if I get bullied for this." He said.

"Better yet, Ill punch them for you!"

"Harry no, you'll get in trouble." Draco scolded.

Harry gave Draco a Look and then turned to look at the door.

"Ah there he is! Hey Ron! Over here!" He chirped, waving his hand in the air at the redhead.

Said redhead brightened considerably and hurried over to trio, sitting himself next to Theo.

"Hey guys!" Ron said, turning to Theo and holding his hand out. "Ron Weasley, who're you?"

Theo frowned, but took the hand anyway, giving it an uneasy shake.

"Theodore Nott…"

"Oh hey! Your dad is a writer right?"

At that Theo looked astonished and Harry and Draco shared a smile.

"W-well yes, but he mostly writes medical books, how did you?"

"Know about them? I saw a couple in Flourish and Botts and I read a little bit. They're really interesting."

Theo brightened at that and quickly launched into a discussion with Ron about his dads books.

"Uh oh. Guys shh! The professors coming!" Someone mock whispered from their position by the door.

"Do you think Severus is going to be strict?" Harry asked as said man strode into the room, his robes billowing about him.

"There will be no foolish wand waving or incantations in my class." The man said, effectively answering Harry's question.

Severus started the class like Professor Flitwick had, by taking roll, making a noticeable pause at Harry's name. Although, the pause did seem rather scripted.

"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of a softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper on death." He said.

Harry was intrigued to say the least, and hoped he looked as enthusiastic as he felt.

"Potter!"

Too enthusiastic.

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry's mind worked a mile a minute and the answer surfaced after a moment.

"It makes a sleeping potion. One called the Draught of Living Death." He said.

"Good, ten points to Slytherin."

The snake house murmured its delight and Harry smiled despite himself.

"Potter."

Huh? Was he too happy now?

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"In the stomach of a goat sir."

"Good. Ten more points to Slytherin."

Ron audibly groaned behind him and Harry winced.

"Mr. Weasley." Severus said, voice dripping poison as he looked at Ron.

Ron froze like a deer in headlights.

"Tell me, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Ron looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"They're the same plant." Harry whispered under his breath.

"Uhhh…" Ron said, stalling for time.

"They're the same plant!" He said again, whispering a little louder, but not loud enough for Snape to hear him.

"They're um, the same plant sir." Ron stuttered.

Severus stared at Ron for a while and Harry was almost certain that the redhead would spontaneously combust.

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor." He said, looking as if he had just drunk sour milk.

Ron visibly relaxed and the Gryffindor side let out a small whoop.

At that Snape whirled around and demanded that everyone write down what he just said.

Then the man set everyone to work on a simple potion to cure boils.

Everything was going smoothly, this was another class where theory wouldn't be of use, and Harry discovered that he was more useful cutting the ingredients than actually making the potion.

Ron also sucked at potions, but luckily Theo didn't.

Then, of course, all good things must come to an end.

There was an ear shattering explosion from the other side of the room, and Harry and his friends turned to see Seamus and his partner Neville, covered in potion.

"Idiot boy!" Severus barked, striding over to the Gryffindors. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville only whimpered as boils began appearing on his face.

"Mr. Finnegan! Take him to the infirmary." He directed, watching as Seamus helped the boy out of the classroom. "Anyone else who was doused in the potion report to the infirmary at once. The rest of you get back to work."

An hour later everyone had finished their potions. Draco had won 10 points to Slytherin for his perfect potion, and Ron was able to win 5 for his and Theo's.

"Mr. Potter." Severus intoned as Harry was picking up his things.

"Yes Professor Snape?" He questioned quietly.

"Please wait for a moment, I have something I need to tell you." He said.

"Oh! Professor, when you're done with Harry, I have something to show you." Draco said, waving to Harry as he left the room.

* * *

"Yes professor?" Harry asked, approaching his head of house's desk.

"I have some news about your godfather." Severus said.

"Really?! What? Is he going to get out?"

"No, the Wizengamot has yet to get it through their heads that Black is innocent."

"Oh…"

"But, they have allowed you to go visit him."

"Really? When?"

"October 17."

"That's a Saturday correct?"

"Correct, I will take you to see him, and then you will talk with a Wizengamot member about what you remember." Severus said, smiling at the boy.

"Yay! Thank you so much Sev!" Harry said, going around the desk to hug the seated man.

"You're welcome brat."

"I'll leave so you can talk to Draco.

* * *

Draco came in as soon as Harry left.

"What did you want to see me about?" Severus asked, looking at his godchild in concern.

"Uncle Sev, today during our free period Theo, Harry and I were working on our assigned work. Harry finished first and started drawing and well… you need to see what he drew." Draco finished, pulling out the folded piece of parchment and opening it, staring at Della's still grimacing face.

He passed it to Severus.

And looked surprised when the man went three shades paler.

"Draco… Did Harry draw her with this expression?" He asked.

"You mean the grimace? No, she just turned into that when I took the paper, she was originally smiling… if you could call it that."

"She is no longer grimacing."

"What?!"

Draco rushed over to his godfather's side and sure enough, the drawing was no longer grimacing.

Instead, she was smiling widely, the words "_**Hello Severus!**_" written in oozing ink.

"How? Harry doesn't know how to enchant paper!" Draco asked, looking at the creepy picture.

"He doesn't, but I suspect that this is her work. How does he know about her?"

"He told me that her name is Della, that she was an imaginary friend that he had… What do you mean by her? She's not real!"

"… You'll find out soon enough Draco, I'm sure of it. For now, I will hold on to the picture, you go and keep Harry company." Severus said, motioning for the blonde to leave.

"What? Uncle Sev! You have to tell me what's going on!" Draco protested, but headed towards the door anyway.

"No I do not Draco, besides like I said, you'll find out soon enough. Go."

Draco snapped his mouth shut and glared at the floor, giving a curt nod and leaving quickly, smiling at Harry.

Severus watched the door close and sighed.

"Oh Lily," He said, looking towards the ceiling. "How am I to keep your son safe with such a monster inside him?"

* * *

AN: And it's over! Woo, I didn't take too long with this one.

Next chapter will be about Draco and Theo meeting Della after their flying lesson. Ron will find out about her eventually, just as soon as I can figure out a situation in which she'll be drawn out!

After that will be the Sirius visitation

And finally the all amazing Halloween troll incident! Where Hermione learns of Della.

Sorry about how suddenly involved she is, it's just how the plot works.

I don't have anything planned out after those three events, but I'll work with it!


End file.
